Accused of stealing from the till at work, help?

[ij.barker]

As I was shutting down the till at work the other day, there was a £30 discrepancy, this didn't worry me at the time as a few weeks previously there had been a £70 discrepancy and it turned out to be an office error, on top of this, another till on the floor on the same day as the most recent one also had a discrepancy of £60.

 

I came into work yesterday and was called into the office for an investigation meeting where I was accused of taking the money from the till. I told them that I had someone stand with me when I was closing the till down, watching me count the money and also that the shop manager was also on the shop floor as she was attending the discrepancy on the other till on the floor.

 

They told me that as I was the only person to use the till the entire day that it must have been me, the other problem is that there is no cctv in store to prove my innocence. I have now been suspended from work with pay.

 

I feel absolutely terrible, I am so stressed, I feel so ill and cannot sleep, I feel like they have decided I am guilty already without any proof, I also feel discriminated against as I had gone in the same morning (before the investigation meeting) to ask for a wage advance, they asked in the meeting if the two were related? I felt that was a totally inappropriate judgement and has upset me even more?

 

What can I do? I am so worried that am going to be fired because of something I didn't do!

 

I hope someone can help me out.

[Emmzzi]

If you were the only person on till, counted your float at the start, and cashed up at the end, it's either an error or theft. With no evidence of theft you certainly won't be seeing a policeman any time soon.

 

How was your track record on accuracy before this?

[ij.barker]

There have never been any unexplainable issues before now when I've cashed up a till. They've told me that I'll be suspended whilst they investigate the situation, but I'm so worried that even though there's no proof, if there's no other explanation for them that I'll be fired?

[Emmzzi]

That seems unlikely. Suspension is neutral while they look at things.Sounds like there have been a few mistakes lately. I'd expect them to pull your till records and check, and when they see there are no other discrepancies they'd be hard pushed to justify dismissal.

 

How long have you worked there? Are you still on probation?

[ij.barker]

Erm I've been working there since last October so no I won't be on a probation period will I?

 

Thank you for helping me out, I just feel so upset about all of this.

[Emmzzi]

No, but not there long enough to have much in the way of employment rights.

 

I would hope for the best - you have done nothing wrong - while looking for new work. They don't sound a pleasant company anyway?

[ij.barker]

I guess I just thought you were innocent until proven guilty, but the way they treated me, they made me feel like I was a criminal.

 

And yeah, they're not the nicest company to work for anyway, you wouldn't expect a big chain to be like this in this day and age, but I guess they're only following procedure?

 

Thank you for all your help, I'll definitely start looking for other jobs, I definitely don't want to continue working there after all of this.

[BazzaS]

I guess I just thought you were innocent until proven guilty, but the way they treated me, they made me feel like I was a criminal.

 

And yeah, they're not the nicest company to work for anyway, you wouldn't expect a big chain to be like this in this day and age, but I guess they're only following procedure?

 

Thank you for all your help, I'll definitely start looking for other jobs, I definitely don't want to continue working there after all of this.

 

Absolutely : consider allowing their "investigation" to 'pan out' though, so that they can't offer a reference that says "resigned while under investigation".

[ij.barker]

Yeah that makes sense, I'll just use this time to apply for other positions?

[ij.barker]

Is there any rights I have over all this? Is there anything I can do?

[becky2585]

Is there any rights I have over all this? Is there anything I can do?

 

Just let the investigation run its course and hope they sort things in your favour! You don't have full employment rights until you have attained 2 years service - so I would hope that the fact that they have suspended you and are actually making moves to investigate would work in your favour. They could have just dismissed you, so try not to panic until it moves to formal disciplinary stage.

[lookinforinfo]

Working with money is always difficult as a momentary lapse in concentration can lead to an error. I used to work with large sums of cash and cheques and would sometimes have over half a million in cash over

a weekend so I know about mistakes.

I am assuming that you didn't take the money but that is not something the Company can assume. They cannot tell but if you did take it, they want to come down hard on you so that you don't do it again.

And they also want you to concentrate more to minimise on any future mistakes.In addition there are other ways that the shortage could have occurred other than by your mistake. The money could have been taken by another worker in the store or by a customer when you weren't

looking.I don't think that would have been the case in this instance because of the amount involved, but it will mean that you will take even greater care over the control of your till in future.For the same reason

[strange amount] there is little chance of looking under the drawer of the till for £30.

 

£30 is a strange amount to be out unless it was mistaking a £50 note for a £20-they are quite similar in some ways and perhaps the lighting in the store masks the difference even more.

 

I suspect that the Company will end up giving you a telling off, perhaps a written warning since they have no idea what happened to the money. When you meet them again you must strenuously deny theft

and state that it must have been a mistake. Point out that the office made one the other day for £60. The only difference is that your mistake doesn't get recovered. And say that you will redouble your efforts

to prevent mistakes in the future. And an apology for the mistake may help.

 

I am out of touch with the Employment Laws but you may have a case for wrongful dismissal if you were sacked. I would be surprised if they go that route and they may have over reacted if there was another till short on the same day. Being on suspension you probably don't know if the other person was also suspended.

 

Good luck when you are recalled to work.