Coolest coworkers ever share $1 million with only employee who opted out of lotto pool

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://gawker.com/5992564/coolest-coworkers-ever-share-1-million-jackpot-with-only-employee-who-opted-out-of-lotto-pool



Coolest Coworkers Ever Share $1 Million Windfall With Only Employee Who Opted Out of Lotto Pool

When Jennifer Maldonado opted out of her office's lottery pool, she figured it was no big deal.

This past Sunday, Maldonado arrived at the real estate agency to find her 12 coworkers celebrating their heads off.

"I knew I was the only one who hadn't put in the money, so I thought they were pranking me and going out of their way to make me feel something," Maldonado told the Miami Herald.

But Finkelstein Reader soon gave her the good/bad news: The team had won $1 million with five matching numbers.

After tax, that comes out to just over $83,000 a piece.




Maldonado bad luck may have kept her out of the office pool — but her good luck brought her to that particular office in the first place.

Working as a team, the employees of Keller Williams decided to put aside some of their winnings for Maldonado.

"As a team we put together a fat pile of money," said Finkelstein Reader. "If we do the right thing and always care about other people, the right thing will happen to us."

[Sissyk]

1. How coo!

I love good people!

[brewens]

2. She must be pretty cool to rate that treatment. n/t

[freshwest]

3. Like.

[tridim]

4. I always opt-out (I don't gamble), and wonder every time what would happen if my office won.

[TexasTowelie]

9. You might be the only one to show up at work that day

and you will be taking telephone calls from everyone else that decided not to show up!

I ran into that situation before--I used to commute about 85 miles to work on Monday morning at 7 a.m. and all of the women in my office that showed up at 8 a.m. and lived nearby would call in to say they would be late or absent. It happened three or four times within a six month period.

[Journeyman]

12. You'll get your name and picture in the newspaper. . .

as a sidebar article next to the account of your co-workers' winning. Hopefully, the outcome will be the same for you as it was for Jennifer Maldonado.

[Ilsa]

5. Hubby still plays the lottery with

his former coworkers. They let him know when his contribution is running low so he doesn't miss any lotteries with them.

These Keller Williams employees are cool people.

[Gore1FL]

6. The only time I ever played powerball I did so in the office pool.

I never wanted to be the poor bastard still working if the rest won.

[ReRe]

7. Now, that's what I call....

.... Paying it Forward! Here's a bunch of hugs for all of her angel co-workers.

[mountain grammy]

8. Now that's a team! nice story.

[Jim Lane]

10. Good story, bad math

A team with 12 members wins a jackpot of $1,000,000. That means that each receives $83,333.33 and must then pay taxes on that income. The linked article states, "After tax, that comes out to just over $83,000 a piece." Unfortunately for the winners, that's wrong. Their after-tax haul will be well below $83,000.

Math errors aside, their generosity to their co-worker may create a tax problem. Will the IRS treat them each as having income of $83,333.33 and then making a gift to Maldonado? I hope the IRS recognizes that the reality is that the generous workers are not receiving the full amount and shouldn't have to pay taxes on it, but I don't know if that's how such situations are actually handled.

[Jon Ace]

13. Depends on how they claim the prize.

If they include her in the winning party, then no gift tax should be levied.

[Hekate]

11. Those folks are wonderful

What a team. What friends.