Suspended from work pending investigation

[Snudger]

Hi All,

Looking for some advice if possible.

I have recently been suspended from work, (on full pay) as have another two employees of the Business.

The situation:

I arrived at work on Sunday evening and completed my normal shift, I had been on holiday for two days the previous week, Thursday and Friday. When I completed my shift I was asked by let's call him, (Superior A), if he could have a word with me privately, I agreed and followed him to to an office, there was another of my superiors in the office, (Superior B). I was informed by superior 'B' that he had to read a statement to me, he informed me that I was being placed on suspension as the company had to investigate a theft - a sum of money was stolen from a desk in the General office, this theft occurred the previous Wednesday. He went on to inform me that another two employees had also been suspended as part of the same investigation the previous Thursday when I was on holiday. He then asked if I had any questions, I asked who the other two employees were, his reply was that he could not comment. He then informed me that superior 'A' would escort me to my desk to collect any personal belongings before escorting me off site and that I could expect a letter to be delivered to my home the next day advising me of the next steps. I denied any involvement and stated this clearly before I left the office.

The letter arrived and outlined the value of the money stolen which was £9.00. The letter also stated that I was the only person to swipe into this office within a certain period of time and I did indeed swipe into the office as they have stated. I should point out at this time that although I swiped into the office the door was actually on a latch,(anyone could have entered) I didn't actually need to swipe in it's just force of habit with me after so many years. There is also a CCTV camera at the entrance to the office, I am assuming that the other two individuals that have been suspended have been captured by the CCTV cameras.

I'm worried about the wording of the letter, "I was the only person to swipe in", it sounds to me as though they have already made up their minds that it was me. I don't have any Union representation and as such I will need to attend this meeting on Friday by myself.

I would just like to point out that I did not take this money, I have over eighteen years service with this organisation and an unblemished employment history with them.

Any advice on how best to approach this meeting would be greatly appreciated. Also, if there are three individuals under investigation and nobody admits to taking the money can they fire all three of us? Should I ask them to involve the Police - surely the Police are better able to identify who is lying?

Thank you all for reading and in advance of any replies.

Snudger

[jaguarsuk]

I'm worried about the wording of the letter, "I was the only person to swipe in", it sounds to me as though they have already made up their minds that it was me. I don't have any Union representation and as such I will need to attend this meeting on Friday by myself.

I would just like to point out that I did not take this money, I have over eighteen years service with this organisation and an unblemished employment history with them.

Any advice on how best to approach this meeting would be greatly appreciated. Also, if there are three individuals under investigation and nobody admits to taking the money can they fire all three of us? Should I ask them to involve the Police - surely the Police are better able to identify who is lying?

Thank you all for reading and in advance of any replies.

Snudger

I would say that it's the contrary, if you are the only person to have entered that room then why are the other two suspended? You are the only one that swiped in, but they entered without doing so and avoided the monitoring except the CCTV has caught them out.

Playing devils advocate I'd say they have to suspend and investigate everyone whom they know entered that room, so I would go in and answer their questions truthfully. Point out that the door was ajar already when you go to it, so you didn't need to swipe in and still did. If you were going to thieve money would you have swiped in an open door to do it?

You can say that you think they should involve the Police and ask them to, again why would someone who has done it risk the police being involved?

It's a good idea to have a colleague accompany you, they can't speak for you, but it offers support and they are witness to what is said as well.

[Snudger]

I would say that it's the contrary, if you are the only person to have entered that room then why are the other two suspended? You are the only one that swiped in, but they entered without doing so and avoided the monitoring except the CCTV has caught them out.

Playing devils advocate I'd say they have to suspend and investigate everyone whom they know entered that room, so I would go in and answer their questions truthfully. Point out that the door was ajar already when you go to it, so you didn't need to swipe in and still did. If you were going to thieve money would you have swiped in an open door to do it?

You can say that you think they should involve the Police and ask them to, again why would someone who has done it risk the police being involved?

It's a good idea to have a colleague accompany you, they can't speak for you, but it offers support and they are witness to what is said as well.

Thank you

Greatly Appreciated

[Phaeton]

jaguarsuk Just as a point, if the OP doesn't want or have a colleague to go with him (if he does I strongly suggest he takes somebody) can he take along an outsider, as in somebody not employed by the company as observer.

[jaguarsuk]

jaguarsuk Just as a point, if the OP doesn't want or have a colleague to go with him (if he does I strongly suggest he takes somebody) can he take along an outsider, as in somebody not employed by the company as observer.

No, usually only a colleague or union rep.

[mariefab]

I agree with Jaguarsuk. The fact that you were the only one to swipe in is a point in your favour.
Did you take the door off the latch when you left the office? If so, point that out too.

Long shot but...Do you remember how long you were in the office?
I'm just thinking that if, for example, you just popped in to drop off/collect something the CCTV could confirm;
1. That you had a legitimate reason to enter the office i.e. hands full - hands empty (in either order).
2. That you didn't have time to steal the cash (if rummaging about in drawers/bags etc.would have been required).

If the Company is unable to discover who stole the money; there is caselaw that confirms that sacking all 3 employees is be an option.
However, in some potential blanket dismissal cases the employer could opt to retain 1, or more, of the employees.

http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKEAT...5_90_1805.html


Is Friday's meeting an investgatory or a disciplinary meeting?

[Snudger]

I agree with Jaguarsuk. The fact that you were the only one to swipe in is a point in your favour.
Did you take the door off the latch when you left the office? If so, point that out too.

Long shot but...Do you remember how long you were in the office?
I'm just thinking that if, for example, you just popped in to drop off/collect something the CCTV could confirm;
1. That you had a legitimate reason to enter the office i.e. hands full - hands empty (in either order).
2. That you didn't have time to steal the cash (if rummaging about in drawers/bags etc.would have been required).

If the Company is unable to discover who stole the money; there is caselaw that confirms that sacking all 3 employees is be an option.
However, in some potential blanket dismissal cases the employer could opt to retain 1, or more, of the employees.

http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKEAT...5_90_1805.html


Is Friday's meeting an investgatory or a disciplinary meeting?

Hi MARIEFAB,

Thank you for your comments.

In reply:

I was in the office for 3/4 minutes maximum.

I was sent to this office by my Superior who asked me to retrieve certain information which was held in a filing cabinet in this office. My hands were full as I entered, I was carrying the information that would guide me to the information which my superior required and this paperwork contained the necessary codes/references. I was required to photocopy the the information which I retrieved from the filing cabinet, place the file back in the filing and then return the photocopied information to my superior.

Fridays's meeting is an "investigation meeting".

Thank you again for the assistance.

Snudger

[Snudger]

I agree with Jaguarsuk. The fact that you were the only one to swipe in is a point in your favour.
Did you take the door off the latch when you left the office? If so, point that out too.

Long shot but...Do you remember how long you were in the office?
I'm just thinking that if, for example, you just popped in to drop off/collect something the CCTV could confirm;
1. That you had a legitimate reason to enter the office i.e. hands full - hands empty (in either order).
2. That you didn't have time to steal the cash (if rummaging about in drawers/bags etc.would have been required).

If the Company is unable to discover who stole the money; there is caselaw that confirms that sacking all 3 employees is be an option.
However, in some potential blanket dismissal cases the employer could opt to retain 1, or more, of the employees.

http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKEAT...5_90_1805.html


Is Friday's meeting an investgatory or a disciplinary meeting?

Hi MARIEFAB,

Apologies, I've already responded, however I feel that I should point out that there are 45 desks in this office and that the money that was stolen was taken from a desk drawer. Every desk has a minimum of two maximum of three drawers.

Thank's again for the help.

Snudger

[mariefab]

I was in the office for 3/4 minutes maximum.

I was sent to this office by my Superior who asked me to retrieve certain information which was held in a filing cabinet in this office. My hands were full as I entered, I was carrying the information that would guide me to the information which my superior required and this paperwork contained the necessary codes/references. I was required to photocopy the the information which I retrieved from the filing cabinet, place the file back in the filing and then return the photocopied information to my superior.



Snudger

This is even better than I hoped.
Your Superior will be able to confirm that you went to the office, at that time, to follow their explicit instructions.
The CCTV will show you entering with one lot of paperwork and leaving with perhaps a different type/quantity of paperwork.

I suggest that you write this up in as much detail as you can remember and (so as be as helpful as possible to the investigator) hand in a copy at Friday's meeting.

Just saw your update.
I don't suggest that add this to the document above.
Unless you have an opportunity to raise this in response to a question from the investigator, I suggest that you mention at the end of the meeting that even if, which you deny, you had any inclination to search desk drawers for money to steal; given that you were only in the room for 3-4 minutes there was insufficient time for you to have done so.

[Snudger]

This is even better than I hoped.
Your Superior will be able to confirm that you went to the office, at that time, to follow their explicit instructions.
The CCTV will show you entering with one lot of paperwork and leaving with perhaps a different type/quantity of paperwork.

I suggest that write this up in as much detail as you can remember and (so as be as helpful as possible to the investigator) hand in a copy at Friday's meeting.

Thank's for the great advice. I will absolutely supply this information in writing to the investigators.

I can't express in words how this situation has affected me over the last few days - I'm ill with worry.

I can't thank you enough for the support you have provided, it's provided me with some relief during what I can only describe as one of the worst experiences of my life.

Thank you again.

Snudger

[mariefab]

Indeed, it must be truly awful to find yourself in this horrible situation simply because of the (retrospectively unfortunate) timing of your Superior's request.

But your employer has grounds to remove you from the pool of potential suspects. i.e. You used your swipe card, you didn't have time to rummage through drawers and not least 18 years unblemished service.

P.S. In case you didn't notice, I added a bit to post #9.
Also, now that we know that it's not a disciplinary but an investigation meeting, you don't have the right to take a companion with you.

[Snudger]

Hi All,

Thought it might be helpful to provide an update. Any comments would be welcome as I'm not sure if this meeting was positive or negative.

I answered all their questions honestly. They adjourned only once for ten minutes, when they returned they asked me to repeat an answer to a question which I had previously answered before the adjournment. What reasons do you have to be in this office and how frequently do you access this office? My answer, on a daily basis and for numerous different reason all of which I outlined for them.

Comments which I consider negative:

"You can see how this looks, you were the only person to swipe into this office within this time period and we have to go on what we've got".

When I asked, how long will this process take?

"We can't be exact but the longer it goes on the better it is for you, we have other people to speak to".



Comments which could be positive:

When I asked, why would I swipe into an office and steal money after eighteen years?

"We know what your like, this is not about your character".

They asked, were you aware that there have been other incidents of theft from this office? My reply, no I had no idea, perhaps if I had known I could have been more vigilant and taken note of anything which seemed suspicious or odd.

Their response, "that's a good point we'll take a note of that".


I now need to wait for another letter from them.

Any comments greatly appreciated

[mariefab]

"You can see how this looks, you were the only person to swipe into this office within this time period and we have to go on what we've got".

Given that the door was on the latch and 2 others have been suspended (who we assume were seen on the CCTV entering the office within the time period without using their swipe cards) I would say that "how this looks" is that you were the only one who did nothing to potentially conceal your presence in the office.
So, I don't quite see on what grounds your swiping in could be interpreted in a negative way.

"We can't be exact but the longer it goes on the better it is for you, we have other people to speak to".

They have 2 other potential suspects to interview. If they are not satisfied with their responses they may wish to re-interview one, or more, of them. This could make the investigation take longer.

While it's fresh in your mind write down everything else that was said by you and the investigator/s. I have come across cases where investigators meeting notes were inaccurate to say least.

It just occurred to me that I have assumed that you were the only person in the office while you ran the errand. Is this correct?

[Snudger]

Hi MARIEFAB,

Thank you for the comments.


"It just occurred to me that I have assumed that you were the only person in the office while you ran the errand. Is this correct?"

Yes - this is correct, I was the only person in the office. I know that someone else had been in the office before me as the lights were on, the lights are on a twenty minute timer, when there is no movement for twenty minutes they automatically switch off - I pointed this out to them.

Something which I've not previously mentioned is that there is a second entry door to this office which is accessed from the staff canteen, normally you would be required to swipe in through this door, however it's also frequently left on the latch. I can't confirm that this door was on the latch as I didn't use it. I also pointed this out them.

Than you again.

Appreciate the support.

[mariefab]

Better and better.
If you receive an invitation to any further meetings come back here so that we can help you to prepare.