Help, accused of theft at work.

ValHaller

Kayalana99 wrote: »

Sorry to add coal to fire.

Has anyone else had chance to change the spark plugs then say it was your husband? It seems a complety random thing to come out with as if as he had opened the hood of the car and they were brand spanking new it would seem like they were trying to cause trouble.

To me it sounds more likey that someone has exchanged them and then reported him so it would look like he did it is it possible the boss wants him out the company and no one actally reported anything?

This^^^^

It is the explanation which makes sense. You need to talk with him and take notes relating to when he put the plugs in and where to the best of his knowledge the car has been to the time when the plugs were discovered not to be new.

paddyrg

Very odd situation, there's something else going on. Could even be the customer thinking they can get away with a £10 set of plugs by swapping the new ones for old. It's not even as if plugs need changing that often.

He needs to get back in there and point out to his management that there is clearly a mistake somewhere - they know he's done 30 years faultlessly, so to suddenly accuse him of theft just to avoid an employment pay-off/whatever is clearly a very risky strategy if that's what they're thinking.

Most of all, his pride is dented. I was offended when accused of theft 20+ years ago - what offended me most was that they thought I was that stupid as to diddle them for a tenner and leave a massive trail. I thought at the time that if I *had* wanted to rip them off, it would have been for thousands and they would never even have realised it - so to be accused for a tenner really hurt. FWIW, in retrospect I can draw up an exact map even now of who framed me and when they did it - I just didn't realise they would at the time.

browneyedbazzi

AP007 wrote: »

He walked out?

Surely if they really think he took them they would fire him for gross misconduct and call the police

Not really. Very few companies would act that rashly, particularly with regard to an employee with such long service. Most would take a bit of time to investigate an allegation and follow their disciplinary procedure.

jennyjelly

Thanks everybody for the input.

No, he didn't walk out, the manager said he could go home to get himself together. He went back in later.

The car wasn't sold to a customer, it's still for sale on the forecourt, so the only people that could have tampered with it are the people that work there.

Apparently someone saw some new sparkplugs under his workbench at some time and these are the ones he is accused of stealing. They didn't bother to ask him where they came from - if they had he could have told them that he had just bought them for our son's car and put them out of the way so they didn't get mixed up with work ones then forgot to take them home. He can't find the receipt but it appears on our credit card statement so he is able to prove that, so I've printed it out for him to take in. They will be able to find the transaction that matches on their records and see it was for spark plugs, so that part of it should be sorted.

However now they are just keeping on about the old plugs in the car and wanting to know what happened to the new ones that should have been put in and implying he must have taken them. He is adamant that he did put new ones in but they won't believe him. The plugs wouldn't fit our car, or our sons or anyone else we know so why would he take them even if he was dishonest, they would be no use.

It is now being referred to senior management. We honestly do think they are trying to get rid of him because his health means he works slower than he did, but if he says this he will just sound paranoid and guilty.

Do you think we should see a solicitor at this point or wait and see what happens?

It's not just the prospect of losing his job that is upsetting him, though that's bad enough as it will be almost impossible to get another at his age. It's just the sheer fury of being unfairly accused when he has given them 30 years of good service, hardly ever taken any sick time and has always worked over when asked to. He is the last of the old school there, all the others are young and flash and desperate to climb the ladder. His face doesn't fit any more, he's just the old fart they can do without.

inapickle9

I would say join the union straight away, go online and join unite £12 a month, they give advise over the phone as soon as you have joined, they usually say that you have to wait 4 week before they will represent you but my union representative said its at his own discretion and he represented me straight away.

spacey2012

First thing is to put in a formal grievance for harassment and bullying before he is suspended, get it wrote out, signed and dated and hand it in.

With the government offering free labour dressed up as "apprenticeships"
many companies are looking to cash in, many of the applicants are already semi skilled.

elsien

Whether the workplace actively discourages union membership or not is irrelevant. If he wants to join, he can do. He doesn't even need to tell them unless at some point the union rep gets involved.
Does he have a copy of the firm's disciplinary procedure? If not he needs to get one straight away.

jennyjelly

spacey2012 wrote: »

First thing is to put in a formal grievance for harassment and bullying before he is suspended, get it wrote out, signed and dated and hand it in.

With the government offering free labour dressed up as "apprenticeships"
many companies are looking to cash in, many of the applicants are already semi skilled.

Should he do this straight away? Wouldn't if be better to wait and see if it comes to anything? Think you might be right about the cheap labour, previous history shows the company to be quite ruthless.

inapickle9 wrote: »

I would say join the union straight away, go online and join unite £12 a month, they give advise over the phone as soon as you have joined, they usually say that you have to wait 4 week before they will represent you but my union representative said its at his own discretion and he represented me straight away.

Just signed him up for Unite. Should he contact them about it straight away or wait to see what develops?

elsien wrote: »

Whether the workplace actively discourages union membership or not is irrelevant. If he wants to join, he can do. He doesn't even need to tell them unless at some point the union rep gets involved.
Does he have a copy of the firm's disciplinary procedure? If not he needs to get one straight away.

Will be requesting a copy of the procedure tomorrow.

Thanks for the brilliant advice.

custardy

jennyjelly wrote: »

UPDATE

He has just arrived home, not been suspended but too upset to stay. The situation is this.

He was servicing a car to go out on the forecourt for sale. Someone (they won't say who) claims to have seen him 'not putting new spark plugs in', the implication being that he pocketed the new ones. Exactly what they are saying he did we don't yet know.

The workshop manager says the plugs look old. Apparently the car has been driven about 25 miles since, so they are going to put new ones in, drive it 25 miles, then compare them. Presumeably if they look newer he will be on a disciplinary.

OH is adamant that he has never stolen anything from work, now or in the past. With a just a few years to go to retirement, why on earth would he jeopardise everything for a £10 set of plugs? We're not that hard up.

Although they will not tell him who has made this accusation he says he is sure it will be one of two people, both of whom he has clashed with in the past.

My understanding(limited!) is they need to name this person

Funky_Bold_Ribena

Funky_Bold_Ribena wrote: »

When did this exchange of spark plugs allegedly happen?
Is there CCTV on the forecourt?
How would he get them home? Was anyone else around? Has he still got the packaging?

Still this ^