Who should pay for theft?

milocat

Long story short (and I'm not sure if I'm posting in the right place - BUT) whilst my husband was at work yesterday, someone came in and stole an item worth about £80. The store is saying my husband is liable and has to pay for the item, ignoring the fact 2 other people were on shop floor at the same time. One of the other staff members that was working when it happened was a manager, but only my husband is being asked to pay (under threat of it going to head office / him getting a disciplinary).

Surely this can't be right? Is there anything we can do to not pay it? It's almost Christmas and we have a little girl and quite a minimal income. Any help greatly appreciated.

AndyBSG

There's no way he is liable.

Refuse to pay it and if they take any action against him take them to an industrial tribunal.

sangie595

AndyBSG wrote: »

There's no way he is liable.

Refuse to pay it and if they take any action against him take them to an industrial tribunal.

How do you know that. You haven't asked anything about any contractual terms in relation to deductions, you haven't asked why the employer has identified him as being at fault rather than other people, and you haven't asked how long he has worked there, because if it is less than two years they can pretty much take any action against them they want.


OP, you need to answer the questions above to get any sensible advice about this.

milocat

I have no idea what the first thing you said is. He's been there 3 years as of last month. I assume he was identified as being at fault as he was the part timer on shop floor and management have a history of palming stuff off. The assistant manager on duty has stood up for him and said he shouldn't have to pay, but the main manager has said if he wants to avoid disciplinary action etc then he needs to cough up by Friday and nobody else who was working that day has volunteered to help pay.

sangie595

milocat wrote: »

I have no idea what the first thing you said is. He's been there 3 years as of last month. I assume he was identified as being at fault as he was the part timer on shop floor and management have a history of palming stuff off. The assistant manager on duty has stood up for him and said he shouldn't have to pay, but the main manager has said if he wants to avoid disciplinary action etc then he needs to cough up by Friday and nobody else who was working that day has volunteered to help pay.

The contract should state whether the employer can simply deduct money that they say is owed from wages.


If he has been there three years, then he can claim unfair dismissal, but only if he is dismissed of course. If the employer disciplined him short of dismissal, he has the right to appeal to the employer - but not to anyone else.


Quite apart from the injustice of it, how far would he be willing to go? Because unless the money can be deducted from his wages, then he can decide not to pay it and take the risk that it is a bluff. Or he can raise a grievance now disputing the decision. But unless he is in a union, this is something that he will need to do himself, and there are no strategies that are risk free.

milocat

Unfortunately I don't have his contract to hand but I will check it.
I would have thought the company would have a policy regarding theft etc, but when he asked the manager laughed at him (not in a mean way but more in a, you work for these people of course they don't way). And they did the same to two people working in another store this weekend just gone.

darrens_here

i couldnt imagine that it would a) be in the contract b) be legal and enforceable , that is something was stolen he would be responsible. Shops know stuff will get stolen.

makeyourdaddyproud

If he was in a position of responsibility such as guarding a storefront and it's stated in his contract he may be liable. This is similar to employees being accountable for hire cars if there's any damage. Come to accept that Santa's sack will not be as bulky this year.

sangie595

darrens_here wrote: »

i couldnt imagine that it would a) be in the contract b) be legal and enforceable , that is something was stolen he would be responsible. Shops know stuff will get stolen.

Unfortunately it is not unheard of for contracts to state this sort of thing, and if they do it is legal and enforceable. However, that is not the whole point. The OP's husband has to be willing to do something about it. If he refuses then he may be disciplined - is he willing to fight that? Is he willing to submit a grievance? Because there has to be an action by the employee - anything at all is "enforceable" if the employee lets it be, and doing nothing is not an option here. That is why I said that there is no strategy that is risk free, and since the OP's husband probably isn't in a union, they have to decide for themselves how far they are willing to take this.

bugslet

Well as sangie said, it's all down to the contract.

I note you say that the others didn't volunteer to pay anything - it doesn't sound like your Oh has. Personally and irrespective of the contract, I'd be asking why the £80.00 isn't split equally with other members of staff.

bebewoo

https://www.gov.uk/understanding-your-pay/deductions-from-your-pay