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I just want to say again that no sane person quits their job and agrees to pay back that amount of money unless they are guilty of something much worse and are trying to run from that crime. This guy was/is guilty of something big. Running from it was the worst thing he could do though since they will look at him much closer now that he fled so fast.
I just want to say again that no sane person quits their job and agrees to pay back that amount of money unless they are guilty of something much worse and are trying to run from that crime. This guy was/is guilty of something big. Running from it was the worst thing he could do though since they will look at him much closer now that he fled so fast.
Totally agree. Wonder what this guy was actually trying to hide.
He made the worst possible choice by quitting- 100% chance of loss of job and being forced to pay back the degree, vs a less-than-100% chance of that all happening if he acted rationally and just waited for the results of the audit.
Sounds like this company is lucky to lose such a poor decision maker for free! No severance either (and before anyone says anything- severance is OFTEN given even in for-cause firings to avoid lawsuits). This is a win, win, win for the company.
I'm feeling sorry for the guy. Who among us would want to be in our 50s and go out like he did, and be in his position now?
I know he did it to himself, but still….
My husband has been working with a company who paid for his Masters degree which he has just completed. In the course of his studies he received 2 scholarships which together was $5K which he didn't report to the company (which he regrets tremendously).
Recently, because some other employees were caught defrauding the company with fake degrees, he along with all others who were enrolled for classes were audited. At his audit, before they could ask, he decided to inform them about his lapse of judgement and said he feels ashamed that he didn't give back the scholarship money. As per policy the company wants that employees give the scholarship money to them. Do you think he will get fired? He has had an exemplary record so far and has been given many responsible roles, great evaluations, been chosen to represent the company at the world head quarters, he got his current job when the big boss offered him the role to move to this state while he was with the same company in another state. He was offered this responsible position without even having to interview because of his superb reputation.
he should regret it. now it effects the whole family and himself over a lie. why he lie about a scholarship? i think theres more here but he needs to talk to the boss or he should start looking and he would be fired for lying. sounds like he lied about a degree he didn’t have.
Honestly, it sounds like the employer's method of reimbursement was faulty. Most scholarships go directly to the school, not to the person to ensure the person actually enrolls in class (and doesn't just pocket the cash and drop out, for example). If there were multiple people who received scholarships and didn't inform the employer, it sounds like the employer was just reimbursing for tuition instead of asking the employees for copies of their tuition bills that reflected what was actually owed.
My hope is that at this point, they'd realize they need to come up with a new system and will simply ask the offending individuals to repay the scholarship money over time via some sort of wage garnishment/correction plan. Are there others still left to be audited or are there only 12 total? Chances are if they found offenders among the 12, they will still find more. It's going to be A LOT cheaper to keep these people on and try to get the scholarship money back than to fire all the people and try to get the full cost of the degrees back, isn't it? Repaying $90K with no job is not going to happen very quickly, while repaying $5K can be done in a few months assuming the person is making a decent wage.
A friend of mine was working at a large publicly held company, and they had a benefit to pay the tuition costs for his MBA. How it worked, was he submitted the bill/receipt for the tuition costs and provided he got a grade of "B" or higher, the company paid 100% of it. It seems like a scholarship would be money paid to the college first, which would reduce the cost of the tuition and whatever was left over paid by the employee would be submit to reimbursed.
So this is confusing how the scholarships were awarded. Did they merely send a check to the student to do whatever they wished with the money? Such as depositing it on their personal checking account? Depending on the nature of what the scholarship was awarded for, I'm wondering if it is the company's business? For example, the student were involved in a competition at school for the best project, and won $5K for it, that money belongs to the student. It has nothing to do with the company paying for the tuition.
I would carefully go through all expenses related to school. Not just the tuition costs but any sort of fees, travel costs, lunches/dinners, books, tutoring, whatever was needed to help with completing the degree. I would then subtract that from this scholarship too, because unless the scholarship was given purely because of financial need, I don't see how this is any of the company's business.
I'm not an attorney or CPA, but I would check with experts on this. Also, a tax accountant to make sure tax reporting was done properly for the school costs and the scholarship.
Thanks everyone for your responses. Update: the auditor just called him and said that the final verdict will be in after the long weekend. She said that she doesn't want him stressing so much over this .. as she said he sounded like he is suicidal. She has given him the details of the department at the company that will counsel him during this period. He just called to say he doesn't want to wait for the verdict as he is going off his head with fear about his future etc, but is going to approach his bosses and fess up to them directly before they hear from HR and will offer to pay back the scholarship. He expects that they will fire him but he says he knows he deserves it. I will pray now as i don't want to lose my husband because of his extreme depression. Thanks again.
Woah, woah, woah...let's no get crazy here. He needs to calm down. A company doesn't want to go fire someone they just paid for them to get an MBA, so don't worry about that. As for this ruining his career, nonsense, no one else could possibly find out about this unless he actually tells them. He would only do that if he has a martyr complex.
Don't listen to the fraud and jail stuff here, that isn't going to happen, especially if she said not to stress about it. This is why they do the audit, because they want the money back if it is owed to them.
If he does go talk to his boss about it, simply said "I did something really stupid I'm ashamed about, and I want to fix it with your help". Then explain what it is.
Based on what I can glean from the OP's posts, this wasn't an honest mistake or confusion in the reimbursement process.
Why else would the OP's husband feel a need to come clean once he realized he was being audited? If it was an honest mistake he shouldn't feel guilty at all right? So I can only infer that inside when he received the scholarship he knew it wasn't right to receive both but decided to stay mum. And when he realized he was being audited decided to 'come clean.'
Not trying to be mean spirited but being honest.
I'm sure everything will be fine. As for him also notifying his boss, I would. Just as a FYI about the issue to keep him in the loop.
Well, you have to be awarded a scholarship, it isn't like they just hand them out to everyone. So the student might feel at the time he was entitled to the scholarship and realized later on during the audit process he wasn't.
Some of you are treating this on the same level like he sold government secrets. The company needs to fix how they handle the tuition thing if they care about scholarships awards.
He probably has to work there for a number of years before the degree is "free." I've worked at two Fortune 500s where this was a common practice, and if the employee left or was fired for cause, they had to pay back either the entire cost of the degree or a pro-rated amount based on whatever the terms were.
He is not going to be able to walk away with a $90k MBA on the employer's dime free and clear. If he is fired, he's likely going to be liable for the cost of a degree, be denied unemployment due to the "fraud," and still have to find another job - completely disastrous.
Not every place works that way. My friend who got the MBA paid by his company, he could leave the day he graduated and own them zero. The deal is they had the option to terminate the employee while he was getting the MBA, and they didn't promise him any bonus or promotion for getting the MBA. They just promised to pay for it provided he got a grade of "B" or higher.
A friend of mine was working at a large publicly held company, and they had a benefit to pay the tuition costs for his MBA. How it worked, was he submitted the bill/receipt for the tuition costs and provided he got a grade of "B" or higher, the company paid 100% of it. It seems like a scholarship would be money paid to the college first, which would reduce the cost of the tuition and whatever was left over paid by the employee would be submit to reimbursed.
So this is confusing how the scholarships were awarded. Did they merely send a check to the student to do whatever they wished with the money? Such as depositing it on their personal checking account? Depending on the nature of what the scholarship was awarded for, I'm wondering if it is the company's business? For example, the student were involved in a competition at school for the best project, and won $5K for it, that money belongs to the student. It has nothing to do with the company paying for the tuition.
I would carefully go through all expenses related to school. Not just the tuition costs but any sort of fees, travel costs, lunches/dinners, books, tutoring, whatever was needed to help with completing the degree. I would then subtract that from this scholarship too, because unless the scholarship was given purely because of financial need, I don't see how this is any of the company's business.
I'm not an attorney or CPA, but I would check with experts on this. Also, a tax accountant to make sure tax reporting was done properly for the school costs and the scholarship.
Yeah, that is what I've seen with scholarships as well. It typically goes straight to the school unless it is for use for something other than tuition. There are some scholarships that may be available to pay for fees, which many schools now separate out to include payment for a laptop, course materials, etc. and often falls within the range of $5000+ for a 2-year program. If the employer didn't agree to pay fees and is just paying tuition, it really does seem like the employer needs to clarify what does and does not need to be disclosed for purposes of this reimbursement program. If the employer is not going to reimburse fees and the employee is able to get a scholarship that pays for that portion, I don't see why he should have to then give that back to the employer.
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