Accused of Stealing Money at Work

MrNiceGuy_007

jobbingmusician wrote: »

So the main argument in defence was that that float was short?

I agree, if the initial float was short by £100 someone would have noticed. However what if the float was a little short to begin with. Then some incorrect change was given throughout the day and finally, when the till was cashed up could a theft or error have been made? Far too many assumptions to be made.

jobbingmusician wrote: »

I think this is an extremely weak argument as surely anyone would notice if the float was under half what it should be. Doesn't your wife have any responsibility for checking the float at the start of the shift? Surely a better place to focus is on any handover between staff, or anyone else operating the till?

Nope, my wife is not allowed to remove all the cash from the till and count at the front of the store.

Daffy opens the store an hour early and loads the till floats, then cashiers work on the till and later Donald takes the float to the cashing up office once the store is closed and everyone has gone home.

MrNiceGuy_007

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

Why is she sending a response to the statement? Has she been asked to?

No - I just quickly wrote down some comments and thought sending it back would be a good idea.. but obviously I was wrong.

MrNiceGuy_007

sangie595 wrote: »

How long has she worked there? If under two years, then all is moot as she has no right to claim unfair dismissal.

Under two years and thanks for pointing this out.

sangie595

MrNiceGuy_007 wrote: »

Under two years and thanks for pointing this out.

In that case I suspect her defence is irrelevant - I doubt it matters to them whether she did it or not. Sack someone for theft, and you have almost certainly solved your theft problem, and even if it isn't theft you have concentrated everyone's minds on being very certain where money is.

I'd stop trying to suggest where the money actually went. It's irrelevant. Focus purely on factual inaccuracies and the statement that she did not steal the money. Casting doubt or blame on otters is the classic defence of a thief. She actually makes herself look more guilty.

Lorian

May be the copy till roll would give some clues.

£123.45 does seem like a strange amount for a discrepancy. I'd be wanting to look at their cashing up calculations. I'd have wanted to look as soon as the issue arose though, not months later. Doesn't mean they will share of course.

ohreally

Lorian wrote: »

£123.45 does seem like a strange amount for a discrepancy.

I think that figure was illustrative.

Lorian

ohreally wrote: »

I think that figure was illustrative.

doh! Next you will tell me her name isn't Mini!

I think it makes a difference if its a round number or not.

MrNiceGuy_007

ohreally wrote: »

I think that figure was illustrative.

The amount was illustrative, but the real figure does contain pence and within a handful of loose change. :rotfl:

flowrypot

This sound like the Co op , I know a young girl who had a similar problem a few years back . Fortunately for her her Dad was a union official in another union so she had some moral support . Could someone have signed into the till using your ID earlier in the day ? Do you not change ID for everyone who uses the till ?. Anyone signed into that till should be equally responsible.

PrettyKittyKat

I used to work in a major high street retail store when I was a student, the latter couple of years was in the cashing up office.

We had similar ways of trying to minimise cash loss - trying to keep one person to each till (or as little people as possible), having CCTV directed over the tills and of course in the cash office. We always counted floats at the start, put them out, then counted the tills at the end of the night. We had a particularly large store so when we were experiencing cash loss we would cash up a till at the end of each persons shift before the next person could use it so if there was cash loss it could be pinpointed to one person - but this extra precaution was used rarely. So the process they were following is quite normal, my concern is that there is no CCTV over the till?

I don't think we ever would have taken a member of staff to a disciplinary over one cash loss though, rather we would have collected a handful of instances to provide stronger evidence that they were stealing and not making an honest mistake. How often does your partner work? Could she ask for the cash figures on the till she has worked the shifts four weeks prior to this maybe?

Has your wife seen copies all all transactions on the till that day (including any she did not do)? If not, ask if these can be sent and consider the below...

When we had cash loss and had to investigate it these are some of the genuine errors that I would look for that may have caused it. You partner may not have stolen the money but she still may have made a genuine mistake which has caused the cash loss to show, if you can find this then it can be rectified and show she is not a thief.

- Vouchers inputted as cash by mistake, therefore voucher count would be up but cash would be down.
- Transactions for the amount of money missing. In this instance I would look for the exact figure but also the rounded figure of £120 as like you said someone is unlikely to have stolen £123.45.
- Discounts added to refunds amount to this missing figure in one transaction (maybe the discount was added in error but the correct amount of money given back?)
- Any sales for that exact amount? Could it be that the sale was 'cashed off' as a mistake was made and should have then be reversed (usually only a supervisor can do this) but this was forgotten?

I think from your replies your partner has already seen the list of all staff codes signed in on that till on the day, but if she hasn't I would request this also.