Laid off workers will keep money

Microsoft has admitted that it has created a PR disaster for itself trying to get back money it overpaid departing employees in severance packages.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Redmond has sent off a letter saying that former workers who were over paid can now keep the cash. It turned out that the numbers of people who were over paid only numbered 25, although one of them was vocal enough to take the letter he got to the press.

Microsoft has admitted that it could have handled the whole thing a lot better. It has not said how much it over paid the staff but given that it laid off 1,600 workers the percentage of those mis-paid was small.

The company said that it is planning to cut up to 5,000 jobs, or 5.5 percent of its workforce, over the next 18 months.

More here.