I was accused of theft at work, as I used my employee discount for my immediate family. How do I defend myself

Question

How can I defend myself? This was something even my managers did, but somehow I was the one singled out by Loss Prevention Services. Also, I was in worse trouble because I found a store credit/ voucher card from the store, on the ground outside, and spent it. It turned out, I was the one who had issued it to a customer! So, I am in deeeeep S*** and am waiting to hear back from them. Until then I am in suspension.
I signed papers saying I was guilty, but only because I was afraid of what would happen if I "denied" it. I had no idea I had done something wrong in the first place. So, do you think I will be fired?

Answer 1

Never, never, NEVER admit to guilt or SIGN anything unless you have a lawyer present.

I think firing is the least of your worries.

Answer 2

I don't think you will have a very good defense. First, you misused your employee discount. Regardless of what anyone else was doing, you still knew that to the company, it was considered improper to do so.

Second, I will quickly skirt around the issue of the likelihood that you would find a store credit/voucher that you had issued. Basically, you should have known that the proper thing to do would be to turn that voucher in. Just like anything else that isn't yours, you should not have claimed the credit. If you think I am skeptical about the probability of how you found a voucher that you had issued, how much more so do you think the company will question your integrity? Now, even if you truly didn't issue that voucher for your own gain, how can you prove that you didn't do so? You would need to either find the person who it was issued to or some other credible witness that could vouch for you finding the voucher outside. Even then, I don't think it would have been acceptable for you to spend it on yourself. If you would have turned it in to the manager, then there would have been no questions.

I would suspect that these two things are being lumped together and while they may normally not press the issue on the employee discount by itself, this voucher issue complicates and compounds the issue.

I don't mean to be rude, but, I think your best bet would be to start looking for a new job immediately before this is resolved. Who knows, you may find a better job in the meantime.

BTW, I believe the second to last sentence of your question is a little misleading to your true feelings. I don't believe that you can truly say that you had no idea that you had done something wrong. You performed these actions with one of two thought processes occurring:1.) They'll never find out about this, or 2.) Other people have done similar things, so it must not be that bad. To avoid problems such as this, you must strive to eliminate any actions or activities which could give even the appearance of impropriety. Yes, that sometimes means that others will abuse the system (i.e. steal) and get something they don't deserve while you don't, but at least you would still have your reputation and job. And sleeping at night without worrying about whether you have a job or not is certainly worth a lot more than an employee discount or any voucher you may find in the future.

Good Luck

Answer 3

First of all, you don't state whether you are a member of a union. If you are a union member, consult your union steward. If you are not in a union, the rest of this answer applies to cases like yours.

If you signed a statement admitting guilt, then your employer may do whatever they see fit under their policies. It does not matter whether others did the same and were not fired; only if you are singled out for an illegal reason, such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, and the like, would it matter that others (of a "preferred" race, gender, etc.) were not punished. But your case even has special circumstances. Not only did you misuse your employee discount, you found a voucher outside and spent it, rather than turning it in to your supervisor. Of course you can be fired, and denied unemployment compensation, too. This can be characterized as a "pattern" of deceitful conduct.

On the other hand, you may be able to salvage the situation with an apology, sincere remorse, and an offer to be on probation for 12 months. If you've done your job well, pitched in when others were off and things like that, you may not be fired after all. What I would NOT do is go around saying, "but everybody does it." If you say that, you sound like you think dishonesty is all right, or at least that is should be excused. That is not the attitude they want to see right now.

Answer 4

If you had used the discount for yourself and then gave the goods that you acquired with the discount to your family away from the store, that is legal. If you let your family shop in the store and then give them your discount then you are violating company policy. I know this because I worked for a company that stressed the policy connected with employee discount. For example: You buy a couple of sandwiches using your discount. You take the sandwiches home to feed to your kids. Fine, no problem. Your kid comes in and wants a CD but hasn't quite enough money but gets it anyway and you buy it for her using your discount. Oops! Violation. Your child, though family, is in the store as a customer and should be treated as such. You should be seeking new employment I'm sorry to say.

Answer 5

You might be fired if they'r big jerks, but explain to them that it was a bad judgement call. If you don't have any prior situations like this, they should understand that you weren't aware that is wasn't ok. After all, the other employees did it too and what would be the difference if you bought the items with you discount to give as a gift? Is that not allowed? I can understand why it shouldn't be ok, but there should be acceptions, or limits. Good luck to you.

Answer 6

It's too late now but for future reference, next time something like this happens anywhere make sure you tell them that you're not signing anything without your attorney being there. You should have consulted with an attorney at the time of accusation. All an employer can do is accuse you, and loss prevention can't touch you unless they have hard evidence.

Answer 7

you will be lucky if they don't press charges...

Yeah I know it does suck that you were singled out, but using that card is going to get you in deep $hit. When this is all over they are most likely going to fire you, and will also put it on your record.

So not only will you get fired. It will also be a lot harder to find a job. Ecspecially one that has to deal with cash handeling.

Answer 8

Since you have signed papers, you can only plead guilty. Unless your lawyer can prove that your were threatened by environmental factors.

In fact, you are guilty in using that credit/voucher card. Although that card was found on the ground outside, it still did not belong to you. Please read that card carefully and should found where to send if you found it.