Worker hands back £2m paid by mistake
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.An engineer has repaid £2 million mistakenly paid to him by his employer.
The employee opened his pay slip to find bosses had given him the sum reported to be 1,000 times his normal salary of £2,000.
Bosses at Alcoa Howmet, in Exeter, Devon, admitted they paid a worker a "significant" sum last week following an error.
The mystery worker is said to have been stunned at the massive windfall.
But, the engineer - who makes turbine blades - immediately told bosses he would return the money.
Alcoa spokesman Jasper Van Zon would not confirm the exact amount involved, but the sum is reported to be £2 million.
He said: "The amount of money is a matter between us and the employee. I can say the sum of money involved was a significant amount.
"We are very happy that the employee acted so quickly, that the person acted in such an honest way. It showed a lot of integrity.
"It's a very good thing to see when an employee reports this kind of mistake so quickly.
"It is a good example of the quality of people we have at our company.
He added although they are very happy with the employee's behaviour the matter was being taken seriously and they would be investigating the matter.
The company believes the overpayment would have been traced within days and the employee would have been asked to repay the money if he had not done so voluntarily.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments