Employee Stealing

[Thinlizzy]

I need to vent a little and see what you would do in my situation.
I have owned a small business for the past 11 years. I have had a lot of interesting experiences with employees over the years but this one takes the cake. After three kids and seven years of marriage me and my wife went on a cruise for a week middle of January. Sales had been slow when I was gone but we are a seasonal business so it wasn't too unusual.
My wife and two older children went to a movie Family day so after my youngest got up from a nap I decided to go to my office for a couple hours.
One of my Sunday workers was stopping by the office to take a truck to the dump for me. I grabbed the spare key and headed outside to warm the truck up for him. While in the truck I looked in the clipboard for any paperwork the crew may have left from Saturday. I was unpleasantly surprised to find five receipts from cash jobs all from the week that I was away. I headed back inside to my office and immediately checked to see if those receipts had been entered into the computer. The jobs had been canceled by the manager whose clipboard I had found the receipts in. He is so dumb that if he had destroyed the receipts I would have never found out about this. What he did was write the receipt like normal giving them an copy. When I was away it was his job to do the deposits and enter paperwork into the computer. Instead of entering those five jobs that total over $1000 he canceled them and put the money into his pocket.
Now what to do with him? Well of course I am going to fire him.
One option is to phone the police and report him. The down side to that is that I would still have to pay him the hours that he has worked since the last pay period.
Another option is to get him to work the remainder of the week since the cut off for hours is Feb 25. Then have him in on Monday morning and tell him that either I take what he has stolen off of his paycheck or I report him to police.
At least with the second option I believe I will get my money back. With the first it screws him but I'm out $1000 bucks.
He is not in a position to steal this week since I am around.
What do you guy and gals think I should do???
Sad part is that if he stole that week how much has he stolen over the past year and half that he has worked for me?

[Jamie]

Thin, I dont think he can be around for another day. Perhaps drag him in ask, for the $1,000 back RFN!! or you will call the cops. He will notice that something is up if you wait a week or so. Get the Thousand, then call the cops.

Good luck
Jamie

[Twisted Canuck]

Yeah, that sucks. I'd talk to the Police first, or get some legal advice. Stuff like this can get sticky. Any advice I'd give you might involve a 2x4.....

[Okotokian]

In these sort of situations ALWAYS play it straight. You know he's stolen, fire him, now. But I WOULD talk to him to make sure there isn't something you don't know about or hadn't taken into account. But if there isn't cut him loose right away.

If an employer knows about something and doesn't take action it can be seen as condoning or allowing it. Following through with your plan might be seen as blackmail, etc. etc. etc. Giving him more money and then taking some back doesn't really get you much farther ahead than just cutting your losses now.

[Ken07AOVette]

First of all, I would remove the post, you may inadvertently tip him off, or hinder a possible RCMP invetigation. Cover all your bases and swear a statement with the RCMP. If you give him an option to repay you are extending him credit, which may cause the RCMP to tell you to proceed with civil action in small claims court. I recommend heavily against this.

Write everything down at home, if he is stealing from you he may know where you keep everything, possibly even password protected files.

[rem338win]

Call him up onto the carpet for it right now. Make sure you call the individuals he did the jobs for to see how the customer satisfaction was ;-). Then call the police, explain the situation and have them there for the confrontation.

[pottymouth]

I've dealt with numerous employee thefts, all I can say is good luck actually getting your money back! Unless they agree to pay it back, your SOL. The police and court process takes forever and doesn't always pan out.

Usually we call the police and have them charged. Sometimes the fear the cops put into these guys is enough to get them to pay you back. Meanwhile put your foot on the gas and make sure they get a criminal record...for obvious reasons

Labour laws prevent you from taking money off their cheques for anything but a cash advances and such!

Have the police come to work and deal with him. Anything you do you should document, and always have some 3rd party person present for any face to face conversations

I feel bad for you. Good luck, don't let him off the hook!

[donabb]

Pretty sad when someone you trust rips you off like that.
I think if you want to do this legally it's gonna cost you a grand.....
Pretty sure you can't set him up like that legally.Also you would be going down to his level. Call a cop it's Theft and Fraud.
JMHO

[wwbirds]

You are probably right however having the invoices doesn't really prove the jobs went ahead and he pocketed the money. You would probably have to approach each client to get affadavit quality evidence to show he did work for cash and appropriated the funds. Maybe the police would follow up on that but you would probably at least want to speak to them to see if they are inclined to cover for the employee at fault here or do the right thing.

I like the way you are dealing with this to deal with the guilty employee swiftly and appropriately instead of letting him get away with it by washing it under the table and toughening up your controls on all employees for the actions of one crook. Maybe I live in dreamland but I stil believe the crooked employees are still in the minority and most can and should be trusted. This guy should have a police record to prevent him from being bonded and doing it to his next employer. The more success and greed he enjoys the bigger the rip offs will be.
Nip him in the bud hard!

[sprinklerdog]

Lawyer and police right away. Make sure it's done right and get your money back. This isn't the first time I'll bet this has happened.
If he issued a receipt to the customer, did he collect any tax? Could any of the customers claim this as an expense such that revenue canada thinks you're hiding income?
Can you fire him and hold back final pay as damages?

Geo

[joeya]

Man that sucks, The only suggestion I could give is to speak with your lawyer before you do anything, they should be able to guide you through to appropriate steps for this situation.

[citori]

I'd also go back into your computer system and research other cancelled jobs, I wouldn't be surprised if you get a few customers saying, "we never cancelled any job, the work is all done."

[Dakota369]

Call the police and have him charged immediately. As for a full investigation and look into any other cancelled jobs that may have been dealt with by him in the same manner. If the $ value stolen is high enough it will motivate the police to aggressively pursue charges, as well as a manager he deserves to be delt with as harshly as possible.........

[Okotokian]

I'd talk to him and get his explanation before making any moves at all. You can still do all the other things discussed here after you talk to him. But if you fire him, potentially wreck his reputation and then later find out there was a valid excuse you will get your &#%# sued off. Take 5 minutes and ask him. If you don't like the answer tell him to pack up, phone the cops, whatever.

[Sledhead71]

Really, save yourself the stress, let this emplyee go for his actions and move on.. You can NOT legally deduct these monies missing for his check, this would get you in more hot water than you want.

Now, if you have ever accepted cash on any job, well the police would be a poor option.. The accused could report your businness to Revenue Canada for tax evasion, another place you may not want to be..

I feel for you, when this has happened to me, I make the choice to remove the individual and move on, stress is not good for anyone. As well, please allow yourself the much desirved holidays, do not let this set a presidence and worry about leaving your business for much needed R & R..

[Fisherpeak]

By the title I thought somebody had stolen your employee.
Bet you wish they had `eh

[Doodle30]

Originally Posted by wwbirds

You are probably right however having the invoices doesn't really prove the jobs went ahead and he pocketed the money. You would probably have to approach each client to get affadavit quality evidence to show he did work for cash and appropriated the funds. Maybe the police would follow up on that but you would probably at least want to speak to them to see if they are inclined to cover for the employee at fault here or do the right thing.

I like the way you are dealing with this to deal with the guilty employee swiftly and appropriately instead of letting him get away with it by washing it under the table and toughening up your controls on all employees for the actions of one crook. Maybe I live in dreamland but I stil believe the crooked employees are still in the minority and most can and should be trusted. This guy should have a police record to prevent him from being bonded and doing it to his next employer. The more success and greed he enjoys the bigger the rip offs will be.
Nip him in the bud hard!

I would ensure that all my basis where convered before firing. Make sure that there is no way you are not missing something. I don't think I would get the customers inviolved in my headache unless I had to. After completing my own internal investigation I would call the employee forward and say that you found some descrepencies and ask him if he can explain them. Then proceed as the circumstances require.

Move to quickly and you might be left with a even bigger headache.

------------------------

Got side tracked eating lunch so I see others have beat me to the punch.

[CaberTosser]

With my Dads company we had a few gems over the years. The last one about 6 years back collected cheques for a few overtime water heater jobs and had the customers leave the payment line blank because "he had a stamp in the truck ". One of the customers called in as she saw his name on her returned cheque rather than our company name; he had also done a similar ruse by overbilling and collecting for jobs, depositing to his own account and issuing the customer an invoice, but submitting us different invoices for lower dollar amounts paid in cash. Our office admin lady noticed that he was bringing in an inordinate amount of jobs paid by cash, as we were mostly cheque and credit card by volume. Turns out he was a cokehead in addition to being a thief. Dad on the advice of his lawyer was very careful in his wording about getting reimbursed, as you can't offer to drop charges in return for getting given your money back, that's blackmail. It's also not your choice to drop charges once the police have evidence, they'd not drop them if you asked pretty please. Dad got reimbursed by this dillhole (which is rare), but I wonder who else he robbed to pay Dad? The thing about his that takes the cake is that buddy actually put us on a resume and Dad fielded calls from where he was applying ............

You should fire buddy and scrutinize his previous jobs by contacting the clients and getting copies of the invoices they were issued. Most will be helpful and it can be worded in such a way that perhaps part of your company copy was illegible and you need to verify some things due to a random audit, can they fax a copy please? This would only need to be done on cash payments, as he'd have a hard time defrauding the cheques you were paid with.

Involve the cops at your discretion, tape or video record the conversation with the employee if you have the means (IPhone in shirt pocket, etc)

[just_dave]

First, I'd ask him, "Dude, where is the money for these jobs?" If his answer was, "durr... what you mean?" I'd be like, "Return the money now or show me where the money is." If he was like, "I umm.. the money errr.. I must've put it ahh.." I'd let him know that if the money wasn't returned, the police will be involved as you have already met with your lawyer for advice. (weather you have or not)

Then fire him.

[Ken07AOVette]

Originally Posted by just_dave

First, I'd ask him, "Dude, where is the money for these jobs?" If his answer was, "durr... what you mean?" I'd be like, "Return the money now or show me where the money is." If he was like, "I umm.. the money errr.. I must've put it ahh.." I'd let him know that if the money wasn't returned, the police will be involved as you have already met with your lawyer for advice. (weather you have or not)

Then fire him.

Only trouble is, by giving him the opportunity to repay you are extending him credit, which makes it more difficult to proceed in a criminal investigation.

Does the op want his money back, or to see the wrongdoer charged and prosecuted, then forced restitution?

[CaberTosser]

I think the phrase Dad used on his lawyers advice was "It would help your case if I/the company was repaid". The wording insinuates the offender will recieve less punishment or dropped charges but doesn't technically state that. It could merely be implying that a judge would look more favorably on a restituted theft when considering sentencing.

[heretohunt]

I learned a long time ago that when I take holidays everyone does too. When the cat is away the mice will play!

[huntinstuff]

Originally Posted by Ken07AOVette

Only trouble is, by giving him the opportunity to repay you are extending him credit, which makes it more difficult to proceed in a criminal investigation.

Does the op want his money back, or to see the wrongdoer charged and prosecuted, then forced restitution?

Exactly

Criminal charges should never be a "threat"
Confront him. Ask where the money is. He may come up with a bs excuse and give it to you. Good.

You have lost stuff or money to this maggot before. You are not lucky enough to have caught him the first time.

[DarkAisling]

Originally Posted by CaberTosser

I think the phrase Dad used on his lawyers advice was "It would help your case if I/the company was repaid".

That is a very good line, I think!

I personally would not hesitate to phone the police and pursue charges. True, you may not recoup what was stolen, but it will sound the bell loudly and clearly for anyone else who may be up to monkey business with the company's assets.

I suspect this is just the tip of the iceberg. Thieves within a company generally start out small and work their way up: to test the waters and try to determine exactly what they can get away with. Usually (I've been with two companies who have had this problem, and know of three others) it is when someone becomes overly confident (based on past successes) that they make a blunder like this guy has.

Nail him to the cross.

[huntinstuff]

The court isnt going to get you any satisfaction.

Get your money back, instantly. Not in an hour or a day or on a no interest payment plan. The maggot stole from you. It wasnt a loan.

[Ken07AOVette]

If you want someone to handle it for you, if confrontation does not fix this, and you do not want to go through the RCMP, contact me. (I do this for a living, have for 26 years)

[Fish-killer]

That's bad, I would seek legal advise.

[honda450]

We had one druggie loser employee steal a bunch of power equipment from our warehouse. Took them to pawn shop and got cash.

Anyhow he forgot to take the company logo off the equipment and left the pawn receipt in the company truck.

Crooks ain't the brightest. Cops were called and he was fired and charged. Company did have to buy the stuff back.

[just_dave]

Originally Posted by Ken07AOVette

Only trouble is, by giving him the opportunity to repay you are extending him credit, which makes it more difficult to proceed in a criminal investigation.

Does the op want his money back, or to see the wrongdoer charged and prosecuted, then forced restitution?

The way I read it, the OP wants the money back. Then to fire the thief.

[Bound2Fish]

I dont think legally you can garnish his wages to help recoup the amount that was stolen. Just call the police and get your lawyers involved. Let them handle it.

Oh and you probably wont ever see that money again. But good luck.