wrongful termination????

Question

Hi everyone, I live in Pennsylvania and I have some questions on wrongful termination. A friend of mine and me both work for a local grocery store. My friend has been accused of stealing from this store and has been terminated. I will give you a little back ground of how this all went down. She was taken into the back office of the store and questioned for a well over a hour till she finally caved and signed a confession. She felt threatened to sigh and she also felt they would not let her leave until she did so. The manager of this store claims to have this act of theft on store security tapes but refused to allow her to view the tape. She was also accused of telling another a employee how to steal and get away with it but when she asked for the names of her accusers they refused to provide her with it. My question to everyone is legally can a business do this?? What are her rights and what possible recourse does she have? Thank you for your time.

Answer 1

She could try and contact a labor attorney (will cost her money) and discuss that the confession was signed under "duress" but they may not take the case for her. She could try to file a claim of wrongful termation with the E.E.O.C. (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) and tell them the details of what happened. Unfortunately it doesn't sound good. Your friend should probably have just left the store when she became uncomfortable with the questioning that was going on and told the owner that she was not going to put up with that behavior. If they did nothing wrong and he has all this evidence on her/him, told him that if he is going to make those kinds of accusations then perhaps she needs to contact an attorney and handle this the right way. I wonder what the owner intends to do with the signed confession? Did he/she tell her what he intends to do from here?

Legally a business is allowed to talk to their employees, and they can question them on these kinds of things. As far as forcing them to sign something, your friend had a choice to sign or walk out of the room (unless he had a weapon or was obstructing her from leaving the room via a locked door or something forceful like that).

Maybe it's best for your friend to learn from this situation and next time if this type of a meeting comes up and she/he feels uncomfortable or pressured they ask to leave and resume the conversation with the boss at a later date or in a location where they feel more comfortable.

I'm sorry for your friend.

Answer 2

If she signed the confession after being threatened with a security tape, she is not innocent or wrongfully terminated. If she had not signed the confession she would have grounds to fight.
She is lucky the store isn't bringing police into this because she could be in alot more trouble than she is.

Answer 3

It's called WRONGFUL DISMISSAL!

Instead of asking advice on this forum, it'd be better for your friend to speak to a labour lawyer or at least file a complaint with the local labour board.

I can say this, and it's because I have worked at a grocery store (part of a chain.) Employee theft is not unusual and it's something that costs the business a lot. Management takes it very seriously. I worked overnight stocking and there were a few times Resource Control was there at the exit to check us as we left. It's a serious matter.

Based on what you explained, I see lots of potential labour violations, not to mention civil violations. I'm not a lawyer so I can't give you a frank answer so best to go see one.

-- Liam

Answer 4

Had she not signed the confession, she might have a leg to stand on, but since she did, she is stuck. You are only guaranteed the right to confront your accuser is court not in a civil matter. She might consult a labor lawyer but I doubt that she has much to go on. In my State of Oklahoma we have whats called "At will employment" This means that you can fire anyone anytime for no reason at all.

Answer 5

I read most of what you wrote...Sorry she can not do any thing..she signed her rights away with that confession..

Should have never signed any thing unless she really stole...Any other reason for signing it was a mistake...Sorry..If she really has a problem with this she should talk to a lawyer and say she was forced in to signing that confeesion...

WORDS OF ADVICE...NEVER SIGN A CONFESSION IS YOUR NOT GUILTY..

TELL HER I WISH HER THE BEST AND JUST FORGET IT

Answer 6

We are only hearing one side: if they want to get rid of you they will try every thing I worked for 25 years and starting cutting back my work hours because of health problems . The harrassed me till i had chest pains and needed angio grams dr said stress was partly to blame i retired early no chest pains since[