SEATTLE — A few weeks after launching the first wide-scale layoffs in its history, Microsoft Corp. admits it bungled a key part of the plan.
First Microsoft realized that an administrative glitch caused it to pay more severance than intended to some laid-off employees.
The company’s response: It asked the ex-workers for the money back.
But when one of Microsoft’s letters seeking repayment surfaced on the Web on Saturday, the situation turned embarrassing. On Monday, the company reversed course and said the laid-off workers could keep the extra payouts.
Lisa Brummel, Microsoft’s senior vice president for human resources, said the letters were mailed to 25 of the 1,400 people let go in January. Most of the checks were off by about $4,000 to $5,000, she said.
New York: Family planning programs work, research finds
Publicly funded family planning prevents nearly 2 million unintended pregnancies and more than 800,000 abortions in the United States each year, saving billions of dollars, according to new research intended to counter conservative objections to expanding the program. The data is in a report being released today by the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive-health think tank whose research is generally respected even by experts and activists who don’t share its advocacy of abortion rights.
New Mexico: More buried bodies found
Four more bodies have been uncovered from the mesa west of Albuquerque, including a fetus found inside its mother’s skeleton, bringing the total remains found in the area to 10. Police suspect one person is responsible for burying the bodies because of how close the bodies were found together. They said the bodies were estimated to have been buried between 2000 and 2005.
California: State lawmaker proposes a tax on marijuana
An assemblyman from San Francisco announced legislation Monday to make California the first state to tax and regulate recreational marijuana in the same manner as alcohol. By some estimates, California’s pot crop is a $14 billion industry. Assemblyman Tom Ammiano contends it is time to reap some state revenue from that harvest. Ammiano’s measure essentially would replicate the regulatory structure used for beer, wine and hard liquor, with taxed sales barred to anyone under 21. He said it would boost public safety, keeping law enforcement focused on more serious crimes while keeping marijuana away from teenagers.
Maine: Snow cuts power
A winter storm blew through northern New England on Monday, dumping 2 feet of snow in spots, forcing hundreds of schools to cancel classes and leaving tens of thousands of homes and businesses without power. More than 127,000 utility customers in Maine remained without electricity Monday evening. Heavy snow fell across most of Maine through Monday morning, with some places reporting rates of 3 to 4 inches per hour.
Iraq: Three U.S. soldiers die
Three U.S. soldiers and an interpreter were killed Monday during fighting north of Baghdad in Diyala province, the military announced. The statement did not provide more details.
N. Korea: Readying launch
North Korea said today it is in full-fledged preparations to shoot a satellite into orbit, its clearest reference yet to an impending launch, which neighbors and the U.S. believe will be an illicit test of a long-range missile, the Taepodong-2. When North Korea test-fired a Taepodong-1 ballistic missile over Japan in 1998, it claimed to have put a satellite into orbit.
From Herald new services
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