Co-workers share $1 million lottery jackpot with employee who didn’t chip in

Twelve employees at Keller Williams Partner Realty in Plantation, Florida, won $1 million in the Powerball lottery last Friday.

Only one employee didn't chip in: newcomer Jennifer Maldonado, 31, an administrative assistant who had been with the company for just 2 weeks. Having not yet received her first paycheque after a stint of unemployment, she opted to save her money.

In a stunning act of generosity, her 12 colleagues have decided to share their winnings with her.

Maldonado told ABC News that her coworkers offered her a "gracious amount."

"Enough that I'm floored and feel so appreciative," Maldonado said.

"Jennifer joined our team on March 8, and we felt that she became a part of our family at that point," Laurie Finkelstein Reader, the office worker who organized the pool, told TODAY. "We felt we had been blessed with this incredible happening, and we wanted her to be a part of it and be able to feel what we were feeling."

When Maldonado entered the office on Sunday, she thought her celebratory coworkers were playing a prank on her because she neglected to put money into the pool.

"100 percent, thought it was a prank," she told ABC News.

Soon she learned the truth: her colleagues were about to split $1 million.

"I think anyone probably would’ve kicked themselves because it’s always a great feeling to win something, whether it be the lotto or something else," Maldonado said on TODAY. "I was shocked and I definitely had a moment of regret, but it disappeared right away because I was overwhelmed with happiness for my entire group."

The group immediately decided to share the wealth.

"They're such great people,'' Maldonado said. "I wouldn't put them past doing something so phenomenal and so gracious, honestly.''

Her coworkers will each receive $83,333 after taxes, Reader said. They haven't disclosed how much they plan to give Maldonado, who has a 4-year-old son with autism, but it will be more than $5,000.

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