Employee stealing from work - advice?

heretolearn_2

I'd just sack him, no need to give a reason.

Then review the cash handling prcedures to make it more secure.

And not give a 17 year old this responsibility next time. Presumably there is a more senior member of staff/manager on duty? They should be dealing with this.

Pee

He's hardly winning if you dismiss him. The most important thing he can get out of this job is a reference. You must not give him a bad reference, but you can refuse to give him a reference. A great start to his working life, I don't think.

Googlewhacker

Pee wrote: »

He's hardly winning if you dismiss him. The most important thing he can get out of this job is a reference. You must not give him a bad reference, but you can refuse to give him a reference. A great start to his working life, I don't think.

I'll beat Uncertain to it....

You are wrong in saying that you cannot give a bad referance, you ARE allowed to give a bad referance if it is factual and truthful.

You are just not allowed to make things up.

Sambucus_Nigra

yinhong wrote: »

If I do this, could I not pay him for that night's work? He's not under any contract. It's just a one day a week, temp job thing.

If you pay him for work done, it's a flippin contract.

You employers - you make me laugh. Not under any contract indeed.

You need better procedures and for a start - remove the access to free cash and tighten up your working practices.

Better training, better procedures and more diligence is required here. Not taking his wages and bringing him under the NMW - which is illegal [do you care about that one little bit?].

scooby088

Only advice i will give is sack the thief and review all your money handling procedures

Sambucus_Nigra

To be fair - if they haven't been given terms and conditions, they haven't been told what constitutes gross misconduct and thus, that it isn't the done thing....

Just saying like....


The contract and terms and conditions are there to protect the employer more than the employee and it's a very dim employer that doesn't issue one on day one of someone working for them. Muppets, the lot of them.

MrsTinks

OK.... I think you need to prove guilt without doubt before doing anything like sack him... A friend of mine used to run a large newsagents (chain) and as I was on the list of temporary employees she asked me to review cctv for her and tell her what I felt I saw. Several times it was people with fingers in the till... But proving it even with CCTV was tricky... those where there was no doubt on the tv were prosecuted, the others were simply shown the footage and knowing they'd been found out simply left (without a reference!). This company DID have very good cash handling procedures... You'd start a shift with a "till" which you'd count out with a manager in the office and you would BOTH sign to say that you agreed the amounts in the till and ditto when you finished the shift. Made things a lot simpler And you had to log in to the till to use it with your unique ID That way anyone could tell if someone else had used the till during a shift and it was time stamped to make sure that it was easy to find the footage if needed
Now I appreciate that for a small take-away shop some of this is over the top - BUT what about the moments when the employee in question had to go to the loo? Did anyone else look after the shop? CCTV would be my preferred option - not only to protect your money but also to protect the employees and provide evidence in case of a robbery!

cassie55

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

To be fair - if they haven't been given terms and conditions, they haven't been told what constitutes gross misconduct and thus, that it isn't the done thing....

So, because my contract doesn't specifically state that I shouldn't steal from my employer, I can assume that if I do it wouldn't be gross miconduct :think:.

A 17 year old doesn't (shouldn't) need it spelt out that they shouldn't steal.

Sambucus_Nigra

cassie55 wrote: »

So, because my contract doesn't specifically state that I shouldn't steal from my employer, I can assume that if I do it wouldn't be gross miconduct :think:.

A 17 year old doesn't (shouldn't) need it spelt out that they shouldn't steal.

Ahem - if you read the next line, I said 'I'm just saying like'.....that I know that and you know that but if someone hasn't been told that stealing constitutes gross misconduct then it does in effect leave the employer wide open.....

[It's called making a point by taking it to its logical conclusion]...

BodyElectric

I would be very careful about what is said and done. There was recently a case where an employee who was stealing was taken to the police station with a sign around his neck saying he had stolen something like £500 and there didn't seem much doubt that he had done it, but he was still able to claim damages from the boss!

Yes because unlawful imprisonment is a crime and the employer committed it regardless of what the employee may or may not have done, the employee was also assaulted.

In fact on balance the employer in this instance committed more crimes than the employee.