He collects $470,000 before they found the glitch

mikea

mikea

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A Palatine man is awaiting extradition to New Jersey after he was arrested on charges that he collected about $470,000 in pay and benefits for a job he was offered but never accepted, authorities said Thursday.
...
Forrest said that Armatys applied for a position at Avaya in 2002 and was offered a job, which he never accepted.

In February 2007, Avaya auditors discovered that a systems error had deposited payroll checks into an account held by Armatys.

...investigators have a tape of a telephone call during which Armatys allegedly identified himself as an Avaya employee to a Fidelity Investments employee while requesting that retirement-fund money be transferred his savings account, Forrest said.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-paltheft_webjan18,1,6368739.story
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They fixed the glitch.

A cubicle resident fantasy. We joked during our many reorgs that the ultimate goal would be to get a job where you get paychecks and not have a place to work. I thought the flaw would be that each year-end a boss somewhere would have to give you a review.

There's a Dilbert where at the employee assessment meeting (and I've been on some) the Pointy-Haired Boss says, "Dilbert? Doesn't ring a bell."

I guess some companies ARE so screwed up it can happen. Remember Avaya came out of Lucent which came out of AT&T Bell Labs.
 
I personally don't think this should be theft, and I don't think the guy should have to give it back.

The company effed up, and it can deal with the consequences. Tough for it.
 
When I was in law school, the Lexis rep (after a training session) asked me if I wanted a job as their campus rep for SMU; I said I'd be interested, and sent the guy a resume (pre-email- I sent it in an envelope). Never heard back from the rep, and in the meantime, got hired as a research assistant for a prof, and as a clerk at a firm at which the prof was of counsel.

About a month later, I got this big, honkin' package in the mail from Mead Data Central- my "new hire packet"- with company policy manual, time sheets and even an email address. I guess they liked me.

I called 'em up, thanked them for the thought and told them that I had taken employment elsewhere. But they kept sending me stuff, including bundles of blank time sheets. My wife suggested I should just send them a few time sheets to make them quit, but I am quite certain that they would have just sent me a paycheck.
 
O.K., if the guy never accepted the job how did the company obtain the direct deposit information?:dunno:
 
kevin47881 said:
O.K., if the guy never accepted the job how did the company obtain the direct deposit information?:dunno:
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The direct deposit info might have been part of the package given to him when he applied. "Fill it out and get it back to us." Being thorough, he turned it in that day, which probably also got to payroll by accident.
Most companies direct deposit forms say you've agreed to allow them to "correct" errors if they should occur. I think the point of the arrest is that he moved the money before the company corrected the problem.
BUT... I agree. Someone gives you a bunch of money. Why would you give it back? Why would you have to?
 
I'd agree that he shouldn't have to give the money back except
Armatys allegedly identified himself as an Avaya employee to a Fidelity Investments employee
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which brings it up to fraud. Had he just said "Avaya pays me" he'd be all right!
 
Wait just a minute and imagine it was your cash and you had made the goof.
Now do you think he should give it back?
Come on.
I am not into the 'all big businesses are bad' mentality, sorry. It is very close to conspiracy theory in my book.
Most organizations are mostly run by people like you and me, working hard each day trying to do things right.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Wait just a minute and imagine it was your cash and you had made the goof.
Now do you think he should give it back?

....
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I'm sorry, but I don't. I would certainly appreciate him giving it back, but in the end, it's my own stupid mistake, so the fault is on me. It's not that guy's fault he woke up one morning with money in his account and went out and spent it. I would do the same. TS for the company, or for me, if I ever do something that stupid.

Now, if he committed some kind of fraud or did something dishonest (and I don't consider spending money that magically appeared in his account dishonest), it's a different story.

It's really no different from seeing someone drop a $20 bill on the sidewalk and not telling them, and then spending it. Is that theft? I don't think so - and I don't think we should bear the burden of relieving others' stupidity and carelessness.

If I'm ever that careless, I'll either eat my words, or I'll not complain in light of what I've said here.
 
All I can say is I think we must have a different view of what is right.
I respect your right to your opinion but simply chose to disagree.
 
This is a pretty clearcut case of unjust enrichment (leaving the possibility of fraud out of the discussion entirely). The guy owes the money back to the company, he has no legal claim to it. There was no consideration here, unless some facts are missing, which sounds unlikely. There isn't even an actual contract (offer, no acceptance).

Hope he spent it on AP-preciating assets, not DE-preciating assets. :D

I also question the morals of a person who would not only accept a paycheck for 5+ years from a company that never hired him, but that would also pose as an employee during phone calls.

Assuming of course the facts as stated in the article are correct. :rolleyes:
 
Do you know how many colleagues I have that do exactly as much as Armatys did for Avaya? And many of these guys have been collecting paychecks for a whole lot longer than five years.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
All I can say is I think we must have a different view of what is right.
I respect your right to your opinion but simply chose to disagree.
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Sorry - I didn't mean to imply otherwise.

And I'm not saying that, were this to happen to me, I wouldn't make a phone call and say, "hey, your guys have made some kind of mistake." I most likely would. Unless I really didn't like the company. :)

I'm just saying that I don't think it's a crime, or necessarily wrong, to do otherwise.
 
Gerhardt said:
Do you know how many colleagues I have that do exactly as much as Armatys did for Avaya? And many of these guys have been collecting paychecks for a whole lot longer than five years.
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YEP! I just dealt wth one of ours. It's Ok tro be an idiot as long as you have deep "management" voice. I just caught "Idiocracy." I was thinking I work in one.

What also happens and would be funny if happened to this guy, is everybody gets their single digit % annual raises, which compound, so Wally who started at 40K is now making 90K even though he has avoided work at all costs since day one.
 
Obi Heed Kenobi said:
Word - after all, we share the exact same name. :)
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And you look almost identical, as well! :D

I can see not coming after him for one or two deposits... but for this length of time?

It does not pass the Rotary Four-Way Test, and that's for sure!
 
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