In a remarkable payroll error in Santiago, Chile, an employee at Consorcio Industrial de Alimentos (CIAL), a major food processing and distribution company, was mistakenly paid 330 times his usual salary. Instead of his typical 500,000 Chilean pesos (about €522), the distribution assistant found 165,398,851 pesos — approximately $180,000 or €172,000 — credited to his bank account in May 2022.
Initially, the employee notified CIAL about the mistake and even offered to return the excess funds. However, after reconsidering, he disappeared for three days, missing work and becoming unreachable. Upon his return, he submitted a formal resignation through a lawyer, effectively ending his employment while retaining the substantial overpayment.
CIAL promptly filed criminal charges alleging theft, insisting the employee had no right to keep the money. The ensuing three-year legal battle centered on whether the mistaken payment constituted theft.
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The employee’s legal team argued that the transfer was made entirely in error by the company, with no deceit or manipulation by the worker. They emphasized that the employee had merely received the funds without any wrongdoing or intent to appropriate them unlawfully.
In September 2025, the Santiago court ruled in favor of the employee, determining that the incident did not amount to theft but classified it as “unauthorised appropriation,” an act that carries no penalty under Chilean law. The court highlighted that the company was solely responsible for the erroneous payment and that the worker neither coerced nor tampered with the payroll system.
Had the court found the employee guilty of theft, he faced up to 540 days in prison, a criminal record, and a mandate to repay the money. Instead, the legal charges were dismissed, allowing him to keep the unexpected windfall.
Despite this victory, the matter remains unsettled as CIAL has announced plans to pursue civil litigation to recover the funds. “CIAL will take all available legal actions, including filing an appeal to review the ruling,” a company spokesperson confirmed.
Legal experts advise employees who identify overpayments to promptly notify their employer in writing to avoid complications. According to Spanish law, if repayment is not sought within a certain period, employees may no longer be legally obliged to return excess payments.
For now, the former CIAL employee enjoys a life changed by an extraordinary paycheck error and a favorable court decision.