alexbaker (asker) Jan 19, 2014:

Thanks all - I'm still mulling this one over. Thanks for all your input!

gangels (X) Jan 14, 2014:

Of course in the financial industry, ill-gotten gains (by fraud, stock manipulation etc) must be 'disgorged' if a court so orders. But here we just talk about a mistake by the payroll department, evidently, hence the Mitarbeiter shall return the excess amount to his employer

mcbride Jan 14, 2014:

Entry at Eileen's post makes most sense to me: Verfasser Just Lynn (307973) 29 Jun 07, 19:09
Kommentar
"It's neither nonsense nor ridiculous. In german law there are provisions dealing with "unjust enrichment (unrechtmäßige Bereicherung), and normally the person unjustly enriched has to repay what he gained - except if he's not "enriched" anymore - i.e. somebody has illegally obtained a car: Then he has to return the car, unless it's destroyed. Or in terms of money: The manager has received more than his agreed payment - the excess being "unjust enrichment", which as to be repaid. Normally he could say "Sorry, folks, I blew all of it on champagne and women", but this defense is waived by the sentence "ohne Rücksicht auf eine noch vorhandene Bereicherung zurückzuzahlen". So even if he spent the overpayment, he still has to repay... " - repayment of the overpayment regardless of its possible consumation ... "to return excess pay irrespective of a currently extant case of enrichment" (see: gangels below)

philgoddard Jan 14, 2014:

Murad Once again, I disagree with your comment. This is a perfectly valid question, and it's not "multiple terms".

Ramey Rieger (X) Jan 14, 2014:

Perhaps regardless of enrichment thereby accrued.
This is what I draw from mcbride's link to the forum discussion

Eileen Ferguson Jan 14, 2014:

Not so certain - discussion on leo http://dict.leo.org/forum/viewUnsolvedquery.php?idThread=314...