Wrongly accused of stealing

[Kitiara]

Hi,

My hubby has been off work recovering from an operation for 4 weeks, he has returned to work this morning and £700 has gone missing from his PPE locker, this is money he has been asked by his boss to keep in there until a separate bank account can be opened. His boss was supposed to have done this over a year ago, but still hasn't! The same thing happened last year when my hubby was off, but he thought he had maybe thrown it away in error (it's kept in a plain brown envelope) - this was £300 which my hubby had to pay back. We have always said it would be most unlike him to throw something like that way as he is very astute, but was the only explanation at the time. He is now worried that he is going to be blamed for the latest theft and dismissed which would mean we also lose our home as it is part of his salary package.

He has asked that the police be called, but his boss has so far this morning been reluctant to do this. We know that other things from these lockers have gone missing over the last year, but they have only been little things. The employees are told to keep anything personal in these lockers as they are for PPE and therefore can only be accessed by themselves (we know that his boss also has a key because he has been known to open the lockers to take out things like company iPads when someone is off sick.

Where does he stand with this please - he's in bits this morning?

[DirtySmurf]

Re: Wrongly accused of stealing

If the boss has a key and knew the money was in there as he had asked him to look after it for him ( a very suspect thing to do in my eyes when opening a bank account is easy, or looking after it himself)

Any CCTV in locker room? Anyone else who has access to these lockers or evidence that o0ther items have gone missing or been removed by other people such as the boss?

Smells very very fishy to me

[nemesis45]

Re: Wrongly accused of stealing

Hi welcome to LB ,

This does seem to be a very strange arrangement if this money
belongs to the company surely it must be accounted for immediately?

What sort of business is this please? This may shed some light on why
this volume of cash is " stored" in this manner.

nem

[Kitiara]

Re: Wrongly accused of stealing

Its difficult to say too much about the business without giving it away and its owned by someone in a very high profile position. Basically its a small division of a much larger company, the office is actually shared by 2 separate departments (I'll call them A & B) and are stand alone business's to the main one. A department is the big money earner, B department has very little income generated, and does not have a separate bank account The £700 was accrued over almost a year and is nothing compared to the money that department A makes. We don't think there is an ulterior motive in being asked by the boss to keep the money in the PPE locker as there is no safe on site, and these lockers are deemed to be the safest, lockable place in the building. The lockers are actually in a workshop so no cameras in there, although there are camera's on the outside of the building, so my hubby can prove he has not been to site while he has been off sick which is one good thing. Its over a year since the boss of department B was asked to arrange for this money to be paid either into a bank account or to set up an online payment system (department A already uses an online payment system), but he is too busy chasing his own tail to actually do anything about it. We're not sure if he is being set up, or there is a genuine thief in the department, but my hubby is sick with worry.

[seduraed]

Re: Wrongly accused of stealing

When did you other half last check the cash? if there was that sort of money in a locker i had access to i would check it weekly . What seems strange to me is that the boss couldn't have found an empty locker for himself and stowed the money there . What does PPE stand for please ?

[SussexMan]

Re: Wrongly accused of stealing

PPE = Personal Protective Equipment

[stevemLS]

Re: Wrongly accused of stealing

I can perfectly understand why your hubby is worried.

I think the elephant in the room is that this isn't the first time it has happened.

What also needs to be remembered is the standard of proof that an employer needs to meet in disciplinary proceedings which is far lower than that required in the civil courts.

I wish him well, it all seems a bit slap dash.

[nemesis45]

Re: Wrongly accused of stealing

Is there only one key to each locker or are spares kept on the premises?

nem

[wales01man]

Re: Wrongly accused of stealing

SOMETHING FISHY?
What company puts cash in an emploees locker

[teaboy2]

Re: Wrongly accused of stealing

Has the boss actually said what hes/she is going to do about the theft and what if any action will be taken against your OH i.e. disciplinary?

Sounds very suspect when they refuse to involve the police themselves, maybe to avoid being self incriminated perhaps?

I assume this happened when your OH was off sick and he only found out upon his return to work and going to his locker?