MS wants money back from people it laid off

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,498666,00.html

Wow... Just, wow... What bad publicity this is for Microsoft.

And, of course, if you are one of these former employees, all your friends will think you're an idiot if you return the extra money to the behemoth corporation that laid you off.

That'l be right

One of the UK (I think) county councils did this a few years ago, and I think it was with a monthly payroll, not severance too. Some recieved thousands, others only pennies.

As I recall, legally, they were obliged to make up the underpayments, but those who were overpaid were in no way obliged to repay it...

Never mind, I am sure Bill Gates can afford to carry that from his own pocket, and write it off against his own tax...



M

Well, crap, it's only fair -- the error is his fault! As the CEO of the company, its errors are his responsibility.
Plus, if he had decided to put in place better people and accounting measures, this wouldn't have happened.

Most companies' acounting sofware=Sage or better

Microsoft acounting=Excel spreadsheet.

I just read that, late today, Microsoft reversed its request for overpayments of severance pay to be returned. I guess they realized the public relations nightmare that was -- asking 1,400 laid-off employees to repay $4,000-$5,000 apiece back to the huge corporation who fired them, and doing so in the midst of this horrible economy. That's like saying, "Oh, wait, we haven't screwed you enough yet by putting you out of a job despite your satisfactory performance; why not give us some money back, as well, while you think about where your next paycheck might come from, and ponder how you're going to survive in the current financial climate?" That would have basically been taking food off these familes' tables.

Last edited by Ragtime on 23 Feb 2009, 10:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Bill Gates is no longer the CEO of Microsoft. He's retired.

Well, it's the CEO's responsibility then.

Honestly, I can't believe anyone is still buying Microsoft products. I mean, look at MS Office. Sure, it's full-featured, but $150 for the cheapest version is really pushing it when there are free alternatives that have several technical advantages of MS Office. And Vista? Holy crap! It's a wonder they managed to get people even to agree to allow Vista to be put on their machines, much less pay through the nose for it.

I wonder how long it will take before people realize that better stuff is available for free.