Employers need to be more careful about who they pay if a recent US court case is anything to go by.
Anthony Armatys, of Palatine Illinois received $470,000 (£285,000) in paycheques from telecoms from Avaya over a period of five years.
Unfortunately, Mr Armatys never actually worked for the firm and it was only when auditors looked at the payroll that the mistake came to light.
The error arose after Mr Armatys accepted a job as a senior systems analyst in September 2002, then changed his mind.
However, Avaya neglected to remove his name from the payroll and ended up paying almost half a million dollars into his account until the oversight was discovered in February 2007.
Sadly for Mr Armatys, the story does not have a happy ending and he is now facing six years in jail after pleading guilty to a charge of theft.
The fact that he has faced justice after banking such a large sum might also bring comfort to the one-third of British workers Incomes Data Services say have faced a pay freeze this year.
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