Resigning under investigation

[matt3942]

Re: Resigning under investigation

...it must be remembered that the employer is, certainly during investigation , not required to tell you what they have found out or who they have interviewed. It may be that they had talked to the cashier.

You seem to be stuck on the investigation. My point was that the OP was not provided with copies of the interview notes (or witness statement) prior to the disciplinary hearing, which is what leads me to believe the cashier was not interviewed. If the cashier was interviewed, I think it's unlikely the employer would simply disregard the evidence.

The business was 100% correct to suspend, on full pay , the OP as what happened was potentially gross misconduct .

I completely disagree. Suspension is not automatically justified in all cases of gross misconduct, only where the employer considers there to be a risk to the employer or its responsibilities to other parties, or where there is a risk the employee will interfere with the investigation.

- Matt

[teaboy2]

Re: Resigning under investigation

Whilst the assumptions are around how the discont system works and if the original receipt was taken off the OP or not. The fact remains that is irrelevant as the cashier should have known how to process staff refunds but failed to do so according to training and procedure. It was the cashiers actions that led to this situation not the OPs actions as she acted in good faith and quite rightly put her trust in the cashier to do the job properly in processing the staff refund, and in putting her trust in the cashier she was putting her trust in tesco that the cashier was competent enough and trained to process said staff refund, tesco have admitted by stating all staff will need to be retrained that the cashier wasn't competent or had the necessary level of training, therefore it is Tesco who breached the mutual trust.

Put it this way if an ordinary customer purchased from the store and then returned the item the next day and the items price was decreased and the cashier refunded at the decreased price only, and therefore Tesco made a financial gain and at the expense of the customer. Who's liable? The cashier is but ultimate Tesco as the cashier is there representative! Its the same in the Op's case as cashier didn't do their job properly and according to procedure.

[jon1965]

Re: Resigning under investigation

The problem is that this sadly did not play out fully. I am not sure at which point the union rep mentioned that someone else processed the refund. We can sit here all day pontificating but from what I can see there has been no breach of legislation. If anyone is at fault for bad advice it is the union

[teaboy2]

Re: Resigning under investigation

OP could still claim constructive dismissal - Or as i said earlier (think it was this thread) if they haven't as yet left (i.e. still working their notice), they can write to Tesco withdrawing their letter of resignation and informing them of their wish to proceed with the disciplinary!

[jon1965]

Re: Resigning under investigation

We will have to agree to differ, if the OP wants to pursue constructive dismissal then either talk to their Union or someone legally qualified . As for rescinding their resignation, well of course it is entirely up to their employer as to the possibility of that their being no automatic right to change your mind

[teaboy2]

Re: Resigning under investigation

We will have to agree to differ, if the OP wants to pursue constructive dismissal then either talk to their Union or someone legally qualified . As for rescinding their resignation, well of course it is entirely up to their employer as to the possibility of that their being no automatic right to change your mind

No one said the employer was legally obliged to accept the OP's retraction of their resignation. The reason i suggested it was 1: Its possible the employer may prefer to go down the dismissal route (i.e. out of spite) 2: if they did prefer to go down the dismissal route then it would be unfair dismissal which would make the OP's claim a lot easier than a claim for constructive dismissal would be! or 3 they may not intend to sack the OP and only give them a warning in the first place, therefore saving the OP from being jobless!!

[jon1965]

Re: Resigning under investigation

I only mentioned it so that the OP was fully aware that asking to rescind a resignation was not a done deal . A comment may be interpreted so many different ways hence where possible listing the caveats and pitfalls may be necessary particularly when people are feeling vulnerable and may unconsciously clutch at straws

[Teppie]

Re: Resigning under investigation

I really thank you all. I felt very vulnerable at the time they had me hung drawn and quartered. Ifelt I couldn't go in there again. My manager was passing it to store manager because she couldnt make a decision. Hes the only one who could move me or sack me. She said "off the record" he will scrutinise ever word and could lead to your dismissal. That's why I resigned I was in bits. The cashiers (it was 3 times) are just being interviwed now. 3 weeks on. They have had informal investigations with no consequences. As far as receipts go. I didn't add up how much I took back and sometimes you don't get itemised receipt back, just the debit slip. There was absolutely no intent. It looked terrible on the investigation and made me feel guilty because they wanted me to be. I thought they would see it was terrible mistake. I apologised and offered to pay it back on first investigation. They said off the record that that didn't sound right as it looked like I was trying to make light of a serious allegation. But that's something I would do. If I'd been given too much change knowingly I would give it back. I could stand up for myself now I think because I'm angry I'm left with no job and bad reference and they have just had their wrists slapped. This can't surely be fair. My union rep didn't advise me to resign. He pointed out the choices. Go through with disciplinary with chance of dismissal or if you resign now you may get a reference. Some choice x

[teaboy2]

Re: Resigning under investigation

I really thank you all. I felt very vulnerable at the time they had me hung drawn and quartered. Ifelt I couldn't go in there again. My manager was passing it to store manager because she couldnt make a decision. Hes the only one who could move me or sack me. She said "off the record" he will scrutinise ever word and could lead to your dismissal. That's why I resigned I was in bits. The cashiers (it was 3 times) are just being interviwed now. 3 weeks on. They have had informal investigations with no consequences. As far as receipts go. I didn't add up how much I took back and sometimes you don't get itemised receipt back, just the debit slip. There was absolutely no intent. It looked terrible on the investigation and made me feel guilty because they wanted me to be. I thought they would see it was terrible mistake. I apologised and offered to pay it back on first investigation. They said off the record that that didn't sound right as it looked like I was trying to make light of a serious allegation. But that's something I would do. If I'd been given too much change knowingly I would give it back. I could stand up for myself now I think because I'm angry I'm left with no job and bad reference and they have just had their wrists slapped. This can't surely be fair. My union rep didn't advise me to resign. He pointed out the choices. Go through with disciplinary with chance of dismissal or if you resign now you may get a reference. Some choice x

You could still go for constructive dismissal claim as me and [MENTION=67649]matt3942[/MENTION] can both help you with preparing the claim etc through each stage of tribunal up to the tribunal itself. But its up to you if you wish to go down that route, as it isn't as easy as unfair dismissal, but i, and i believe matt also, believe you have a good chance of winning! from what you said so far, but we will need to know all the fine details, such as exactly what Tesco's procedures are in such circumstance both for you and the cashier.

Aslo, You may get a letter from retail loss prevention (RLP) demanding compensation for tesco's loss (alleged gain you were accused of making) and cost of time investigating and staff time dealing with the disciplinary process etc etc - If you do let us know. its nothing to worry about as they don't stand a chance in court, and its unlikely they would take you to court anyway, but it would prove useful in any claim you make at tribunal or indeed if RLP took you to court!

[Teppie]

Re: Resigning under investigation

Ok thankyou i will look at what you said. What will the costs be. Also when i handed in my notice i gave them a cheque for the discrepancy. Union rep phoned me to say they couldnt accept it and shredded it.

[teaboy2]

Re: Resigning under investigation

Ok thankyou i will look at what you said. What will the costs be. Also when i handed in my notice i gave them a cheque for the discrepancy. Union rep phoned me to say they couldnt accept it and shredded it.

RLP will likely have a figure between £100-£200 - Extortionate, and they can never proof their loss in court, hence why they loss in the oxford test case the other year. Basically they are claiming standard business operational costs i.e. wages, cctv maintenance etc that they'd have still to pay even if the incident hadn't happened, so is therefore not a loss!

If they shredded the cheque then that would be unreasonableness their part, as you offered to repay the discrepancy, its even more unreasonable considering it was the cashiers fault in the first place.

[matt3942]

Re: Resigning under investigation

... but i, and i believe matt also, believe you have a good chance of winning!

I do believe there are grounds for a constructive dismissal claim here; however, I would advise you to meet with an employment law specialist face-to-face to discuss your options.

- Matt

[Teppie]

Re: Resigning under investigation

What happened to them? The other person who was in same situation

[teaboy2]

Re: Resigning under investigation

You mean the other thread from last year that i referred too? If so she was disciplined and i think dismissed (if i recall correctly), quite rightly so as she hadn't followed procedure when processing the refunds! But she was the cashier refunding a purchase a college made! So she did similar to what the cashier in your case did only in your case the cashier wasn't disciplined (that we know off) instead you where disciplined for the cashiers misconduct!

[Teppie]

Re: Resigning under investigation

I've been to CAB who told me to get in touch with ACAS. They were quite abrupt with me but apparently I have to fill out early conciliation form. Not quite sure what happens then. I have legal stuff on my house insurance. Solicitor to g me tomorrow. Have not a clue what I'm doing and very scared. Many people saying you will never win against big firm like Tesco and you did do lots of transactions it only has to look suspicious they don't have to prove you guilty so just accept it. I had no intent so I'm going to try. Iwould like to change my reference if possible I don't want to put anybody through what I went through. Thank you for replying to me you have made me stronger.