Help, accused of theft at work.

Yorkie1

You say that the spark plugs under the bench were for a family member's car, and also that the spark plugs for family cars aren't the same fitting as the car he's accused of stealing the spark plugs from.

Can this be proved? If so, this backs up the account that the ones under the bench didn't come from the car, but came from the purchase.

paddedjohn

So we get to post 30 before you tell us this happened 9 weeks ago, he should be telling them to come up with concrete evidence against him or apologise and let him get on with his life.

Funky_Bold_Ribena

If he did it 9 weeks ago, what's happened with the car since?

Did the car work before and if so, why were they changed? If they were changed because it didn't work before, then was it working after?

slenderkitten

If the other party has reported him now and not 9 weeks ago then can the other person be reprimanded for not saying anything, if in real-world terms it did happen. I would ask your union about this side of things to see if there is anything in this that can help you and add weight to your case.

It is fortunate that you have a receipt from your credit card, i would always say to people to keep your work stuff/life entirely away from your personal stuff/life, you just never know if something like this could happen.

It's unfortunate but it does happen whether the event happen or its been made up to get rid of someone. I hope you get this sorted out as soon as possible.

Good luck

Nightranger

jennyjelly wrote: »

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.

Apologies if someone else has addressed this point. If this is the starting point for the accusation then the logic escapes me. If the items had not left the premises then they cannot claim them to have been stolen. I certainly think you are right about the reasons for all this because if your husband later took the spark plugs home, it would prove someone was nosing around his work area and knew that they were there and later were removed.

Note on edit: I have now seen another post that gives good advice about not mixing home and work and I think that is a good point.

jennyjelly

Funky_Bold_Ribena wrote: »

If he did it 9 weeks ago, what's happened with the car since?

Did the car work before and if so, why were they changed? If they were changed because it didn't work before, then was it working after?

The car always worked, changing the plugs is just a standard part of the pre-sales service so that they know all cars sold are up together.

slenderkitten wrote: »

If the other party has reported him now and not 9 weeks ago then can the other person be reprimanded for not saying anything, if in real-world terms it did happen. I would ask your union about this side of things to see if there is anything in this that can help you and add weight to your case.

It is fortunate that you have a receipt from your credit card, i would always say to people to keep your work stuff/life entirely away from your personal stuff/life, you just never know if something like this could happen.

It's unfortunate but it does happen whether the event happen or its been made up to get rid of someone. I hope you get this sorted out as soon as possible.

Good luck

Nightranger wrote: »

Apologies if someone else has addressed this point. If this is the starting point for the accusation then the logic escapes me. If the items had not left the premises then they cannot claim them to have been stolen. I certainly think you are right about the reasons for all this because if your husband later took the spark plugs home, it would prove someone was nosing around his work area and knew that they were there and later were removed.

Note on edit: I have now seen another post that gives good advice about not mixing home and work and I think that is a good point.

I am also concerned about whey this has taken so long to come to a head - although I now believe the May date I gave is wrong and it actually happened at the beginning of July. We were away for the first week of July and when he went back to work he said it was clear someone had been through his things and 2 of his tools were missing. He reported this to his manager who said he must be mistaken and have lost them. It's obvious now why he said this. I'm, more and more convinced they just want to get rid of him.

He has spoken to the union today and the rep has kindly agreed to accompany him to a disciplinary if there is one. Because he has only just joined is is not eligible for legal help, but they say they will be able to represent him if he is dismissed and decides to appeal.

He has asked for copies of the disciplinary and grievance procedures but apparently the person who deals with this won't be in till tomorrow. That will still give us time to put something together before his meeting with the general manager on Monday. Any idea where we can find some sort of grievance template? Never had to do this before and not quite sure what form it should take.

paddyrg

If senior management are being involved, that's a good thing. There might be some petty idiot in middle management who had a personal grievance/whatever when senior management will see 30 years of solid service of x,000 satisfied customers and not be about to get into some very thin flaky ground on circumstantial speculation over an incident they have no evidence for 2-3 months ago. Senior management will also have a better grip (one would hope at least) on employment law and so be less jumpy.

jennyjelly

We can but hope.

Thanks for the positivity!

Nightranger

jennyjelly wrote: »

I am also concerned about whey this has taken so long to come to a head - although I now believe the May date I gave is wrong and it actually happened at the beginning of July. We were away for the first week of July and when he went back to work he said it was clear someone had been through his things and 2 of his tools were missing. He reported this to his manager who said he must be mistaken and have lost them. It's obvious now why he said this. I'm, more and more convinced they just want to get rid of him.

This sounds like a cover-up for a trend that the middle manager knew about and there is a known culprit. I am not saying that your husband's near retirement is not an issue because it all sounds a bit too convenient. However, I am still not clear about why spark plugs that were seen at your husband's work station were reported as stolen when they had not left the premises

jennyjelly wrote: »

He has spoken to the union today and the rep has kindly agreed to accompany him to a disciplinary if there is one. Because he has only just joined is is not eligible for legal help, but they say they will be able to represent him if he is dismissed and decides to appeal.

This is normal please go with this because a witness is essential.

jennyjelly wrote: »

He has asked for copies of the disciplinary and grievance procedures but apparently the person who deals with this won't be in till tomorrow. That will still give us time to put something together before his meeting with the general manager on Monday. Any idea where we can find some sort of grievance template? Never had to do this before and not quite sure what form it should take.

It is a difficult call if your husband does not want to stir the cauldron (understandable) but it is not too late for him to put in his own grievance. From what you have said, he has plenty of justification but he will have to decide against whom and what event, he is going to raise this.

jennyjelly

Yorkie1 wrote: »

You say that the spark plugs under the bench were for a family member's car, and also that the spark plugs for family cars aren't the same fitting as the car he's accused of stealing the spark plugs from.

Can this be proved? If so, this backs up the account that the ones under the bench didn't come from the car, but came from the purchase.

Different plugs fit different cars, and the ones he apparently stole wouldn't fit any car owned by anyone we know. How we would prove that I don't know though.