ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

A US cleaner received an overtime payment of $620,000 following a clerical error. And the massive oversight went unnoticed for three months.

The cleaner worked in public transport stations in Atlanta, Georgia and was an employee of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority. The $620,000 in unearned overtime was paid in April and the mistake was only identified in July.

MARTA initially began negotiating with the employee in a bid to recover the money without taking any legal action. But the company has confirmed that five months after the payment was made, it has still not been returned.

MARTA is now attempting to recover the funds from the unnamed employee via the courts. Neither the employee who received the money nor the staff member who made the payroll error are still working for the transit authority.

According to calculations, $620,000 could cover the annual wages of around 15 Atlanta station cleaners. The same amount could also pay the base salaries of approximately 10 MARTA police officers, purchase a new bus or cover around 250,000 bus or rail journeys.

Atlanta employment lawyers claim to have never encountered an overpayment case involving such a large sum. And they say that although the money was not initially obtained through theft, there could still potentially be legal consequences for the former employee for knowingly retaining funds that do not belong to the recipient.

MARTA is now taking civil action in a bid to recover the money.