Microsoft Ask Laid Off Workers for Money Back
In what appears to be a clear sign of the times, Microsoft is reportedly asking laid off employees to return portions of their severance pay that the company apparently overpaid.
TechCrunch has an item stating that Microsoft has contacted some of its former employees and is asking them to repay the software giant for overpayment on severance due to the company’s own miscalculations.
The document reads: “This letter is to inform you that an inadvertent administrative error occurred that resulted in an overpayment in severance pay by Microsoft.
Microsoft last month announced plans to lay off up to 5,000 employees, including 1,400 the company let go on Jan. 22.
If this issue of miscalculated severance pay is an indication of Microsoft’s handling of its initial round of layoffs, then folks in future rounds have cause for concern.
Microsoft later on Feb. 23 reversed its decision and told its former employees they did not have to repay the overpayments–which ranged from hundreds of dollars to $5,000 per employee.
For its part, IBM has quietly laid off up to 5,000 employees since the beginning of the year.
