My daughter has just been accused of theft and dismissed.

She was working about 25 hours a week.

There are a few people who didn't like my daughter working there and often were unpleasant. She has been accused of taking something as she left work without paying for it. She says she did take something, she left the money on top of till, because she had already cashed up. There was someone with her at the time and she has also been dismissed for theft. The evidence her boss has said is that someone else has told them, but there was no-one else there other than the two who got dismissed (my daughter and work collegue)

She has been working there approx 5 months.

Does any one know what we can do about this? Doesn't her boss have to prove that she stole something? Isn't this deffammation of character?

Hopefully someone can help with this dilema

Does the premisis your daughter worked in have cctv???

If they do im sure it wouldnt hurt to ask to see it from the time your daughter took something, and then they would see your daughter putting money on the till to pay for the item she took.

No there is no cctv.

Her boss said that someone told him that my daughter and work collegue was bragging about this.

By the way the item she has been accused in taking is a Solero ice lolly.

DPR

Just a few of questions.

How was the dismissal carried out.

Was it the same for her friend.

Was she accused, and then dismissed, e.g. did she have opportunity to explain.

She was confronted by the boss who said 'admit it now and nobody need to find out about it and it will be dealt with now'. My daughter did admit to taking a lolly but said 'I left the money on the till'. Her boss just kept repeating 'admit it now' but that was on friday the conversation ended with the boss saying I will let you know by monday whats happening. But over the weekend my daughter has had phone calls from numerous people to say my daughter had been sacked for stealing.

On monday she never got a phone call, so she rang them the boss kept hanging up, so Myself and my daughter went up there to the shop. My daughter then got a phone call from the other boss (father daughter business) while we there on the premises, who told her over the phone that she was sacked for stealing and remove herself from the premises, did she want to get the police involved. My daughter then nearly in tears I took over the phone and asked for the reason she was sacked, he said theft, I asked what evidence he said he had been told I asked for proof and he kept saying and repeating himself 'do you want the police involved?'

Her friend has never been told to her face yet that she has been sacked he told me, like my daughter she was told we will ring you and everyone in the complex has been told they stole something.

Their business is set within a complex they rent the building and we have found out from one of the managers of the complex that the whole site is being changed round and they may not be renewing the shops contract, and by getting rid of 3 people within a month I'm wondering wether its a ploy to get rid of them, and over the last few weeks the boss has been whining how much the business is bringing in and that she paying wages out of her pocket.

dpr

Strictly speaking they have broken rules, however I take it she did not have a contract or grievance procedure.

Unfortunately she will find it almost impossible to prove her innocence, there is the possibility of CCTV but you will have to gain access to this, they will look first and if they have made a mistake you can bet the tape will be lost or wiped.

You may be right about the need to shed staff, but if she has not been there that long its not hard to do that legally.

It may be more beneficial to walk away, if she is questioned whilst looking for other work she can state hand on heart what has happened, and that she was denied the right to defend herself correctly.

As they say "next time beware".

I have to say that I agree with Sharkie. The employer has undoubtedly broken the fundamental rules in dismissing staff, and had she been working there she would have little trouble in proving that the dismissal was unfair. On the spot suspension is OK whilst investigating an allegation of Gross Misconduct, but strictly speaking your daughter should have been given a formal disciplinary hearing with a right to be accompanied and a right to appeal the decision to dismiss - anything less than this will normally make any dismissal 'automatically unfair'.

After 5 months however there is not the same level of protection sadly.

I agree with the other posters, with under 12 months employment with this company, she does not have the protection of other workers. I would however, be inclined to push them to prove this alleged theft, as on the face of it, there is certainly no evidence to support a charge of theft. If your daughter said she left the money, it is for them company to prove that didnt happen. The word of the witness would be looked upon as shaky at best, I don't think the Police would be too keen to get involved, and even if they did any half witted brief could probably shred the prosecution evidence.

best regards and good luck

She did have a contract but as you all say, my daughter was only there 5 months and there is no CCTV. I have thought about this all day and considering if it would be worth visiting my local solicitor, to see what they think.

She's got a job interview tommorrow so fingers crossed. She has been at college full time for the last 2 years, as well working, training to become a nursery teacher and her ultimate goal is to become a social worker, so every year she has to have police checks so obviously her police record has to be impecable.

It has just made me so mad that these bosses can treat her like this and I don't think theres not much we can do about it, without ruining her ultimate career path.

My son was also accused of theft and there was CCTV which the police checked after arresing him. The police said they was nothing on the CCTV to suggest he had stolen anything and they rang his work and told them this. They still sacked him because they had told all the staff he had stolen it and they didn't want to look stupid by telling the truth.

Whatever the outcome, my son shall move on with his life and not think twice about it. At least everyone knows he didn't do it and it has just shown how stupid these people are. I don't know how they sleep at night and I hope they all rot in hell together.