Dealing with employee theft

babiebeany

I have owned my small business for just over a year and inherited 2 excellent employees.

One of them however is stealing from the till. The history is that the previous owner was not very organised and left hundreds of pounds in the till at any one time and did not have a reliable system to record sales.

I only leave a small amount in the till and know exactly how much and have a good system to record sales. The stealing from the till I believe has been going on for years due to this lax method of cash handling.


Now this employee does an excellent job and up until now I have been reluctant to speak to her about the stealing.

Will I be acting fairly and within the law if I do this:

Talk to her about the theft and show her my evidence.

Then give her the option of

a)to admit what she has done and pay back the money, whilst also being given a written warning. she will need to promise that this will not happen again.

b) not to accept responsibility and to have the matter passed over to the police. If this happens I will inform all the other employees and her other employer.

I really just need to know that I dont leave myself open to her claiming unfair dismissal or something.

devils_spawn

What evidence do you have to say it is just this one employee?

richt71

If you've got evidence then I'd fire her. If they've done it once then they're untrustworthy. So if they've done it for years is serious. Depending on the amount you might like to contact the police. Sorry but I have no sympathy. Stealing is stealing.
Under the law it's called gross misconduct by the way and instant dismissal is fine.

babiebeany

Thanks for your replies. The evidence is that only she and I have access to the till and when she is on her own in the shop the till is usually down by £20 evidenced by the cash reconcilliation sheet. At times even when I am there for a while and leave early the £20 will be missing.

My reason for not sacking her straightaway is that I am unsure of the legal issues and dont want any kind of case brought against me. Also I do rely on her to run the shop when I'm not there, she is excellent with customers, does great work but steals from me.

devils_spawn

Take a deep breath!

In the shoes of a small employer, it is usually best to involve the police, they will always ask for CCTV evidence (police mentality). However, should you be able to prove your concerns by cash reconciliation sheets then this should be sufficient for the police to at least interview the suspect.

As for the legal aspects - you have a couple of options:

1. Dismiss the employee immediately as this constitutes gross misconduct and as such you do not have to give advance warning of a disciplinary

2. Suspend the employee at the same time the police come to arrest her - then invite said employee to a disciplinary hearing.

The usual action taken by larger retailers is option 2 - and the employee is suspended on full pay to avoid any accusations of guilt before a disciplinary hearing.

Depending on where you are in the country, there may be a specialist retail crime unit at your local police station who will happily advise on the criminal aspects.

As for giving her the option to admit guilt and just give a warning - she is stealing from you, £20 a day amounts to a fair old bit after a length of time. If I were you, I'd set an example and involve the police.

You CANNOT tell her other employers - however, the police can pass on the details.

Savvy_Sue

I'm just wondering how the cash reconciliation sheet 'proves' she's stealing - do you both sign it at regular intervals? Because if it's just you writing down '£100 in till' and no-one checking that and initialling the record, it's your word against hers.

LittleVoice

devils_spawn wrote: »

Take a deep breath!

1. Dismiss the employee immediately as this constitutes gross misconduct and as such you do not have to give advance warning of a disciplinary

2. Suspend the employee at the same time the police come to arrest her - then invite said employee to a disciplinary hearing.

Remember that, though you believe this to be a case of gross misconduct, it would be unwise to dismiss on the spot. Even in this situation, the employee deserves to have their case investigated before being dismissed. The investigation need not take long but it needs to happen - the employee has the right to present a case against your accusation. This is why employers do go through the regular disciplinary route. On the other hand, you do not need the same level of certainty of evidence as in a criminal court - reasonable suspicion is enough.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

this happened to a butcher friend of ours.. he took over a business with existing staff. one of whic hwas robbing the till...

when the shop was closed they put cctv in and hide the cameras so they would not be noticed, but did not tell any of the staff... within hours of her shift starting after the cctv was installed, they caught her on camera....she thought she was in the shop on her own..

the police were informed straight away. and she was instandly arrested.. and went to court, and was charged... big spread in the local paper

it sounds as though you are a nice person, and dont want to cause this person grief.. but at the end of the day... they are stealing money from you....the amount she is taking could in effect close some businesses down, that is your money she is taking.. i would think of that till as my purse....would you honestly stand for someone taking money from your purse everyday?

they are old enough to know what they are doing.. and the after effects if cought..

poet123

I think you need more proof than your word against hers. For example she could say that you needed to lose a member of staff and were unwilling to pay redundancy money so cooked up this scheme. I would not leave myself open to being challenged on this and would have concrete evidence,like CCTV.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

poet123 wrote: »

I think you need more proof than your word against hers. For example she could say that you needed to lose a member of staff and were unwilling to pay redundancy money so cooked up this scheme. I would not leave myself open to being challenged on this and would have concrete evidence,like CCTV.

i might be totally wrong but might not need to pay reduntancy as it is under 2 years.... and it all depends on if the employment re- started when the op took over the business..

plus another thought dont know what type of business it is.... but it could be more than money she is taking..... or if it is a shop.. he relatives or friends could be coming in when its only her there.. and having some very large discount....
this could also happen with other staff there...

babiebeany

Thanks for your replies.

I think you are right and it will be my word against hers if it is taken to the police, but I simply want the stealing to stop.

Over the last year I estimate that she has taken around £150 which may not sound much but I would rather have this money in my pocket than hers.

I rang her this morning and asked her to come to see me in the shop on Monday. She sounded nervous but said she would come in.

I am now planning to show her two pieces of evidence and see if she can explain it. What I really want is for her to say yes I did it and be willing to pay back the money. I am a kind (or maybe gullible) person and I don't want to cause her more trouble than is necessary for £150. I think that she has got so used to stealing and also the fact that I haven't accused her directly in the past that she thinks she can carry on and get away with it.

I am having some electrical work done soon and will see if I can afford cctv especially if I don't resolve this issue.