It looks like your compiler is having issues with the fact that getEmployee() throws an exception on the last line and doesn't return a value. Since the exception is thrown, no return value should be necessary.

To get it to compile, you can add this as the last line of that method:

return mEmployees[0];

Note that that line will never actually be executed.

I'm curious to know what compiler/verison you're using...

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Scott J. Kleper
Author, "Professional C++"
(Wrox, 2005)