Normal space | EconoTwist's

This is another one of those stories that leaves you hanging, not knowing quite what to make of it because some crucial information is missing. But falling asleep and make a transfer of 224 million, without knowing anything about it, is indeed rather strange.But the fact that the claim of one person examining 603 payments in 1,4 seconds is considered completely normal, is undoubtedly disturbing.

A German bank employee appeared before an industrial tribunal in the state of Hesse, recently,.as a witness in a case of being unfairly dismissed from work. The clerk had gotten of the “mistake” of transferring €224 million instead of €54 with a slap on the wrist, but the bank sacked his college instead – a 48-year-old woman who was responsible for the approval of all outgoing payments.

While the mistake was eventually noticed and corrected, the on-duty supervisor originally approved the payment request, allowing the funds to go through.

So she sued tha bank, of course. And won. Arguing that when you have to examine more than 600 payments in 1,4 seconds. accidents happens.

The judges said she was not guilty of wilfully damaging the interests of the bank and that although she had made a “serious mistake” she should have been cautioned rather than sacked.

The clerk “momentarily fell asleep” on the job and accidentally held down the number 2 button on his keyboard for a little too long — think 222,222,222.22 — causing that much money to be transferred out of the bank was merely admonished by the court.