Employee theft

[Smudger1964]

Recently an employee came in to say he had to carry out some work for another company (he was previously self-employed up until January of this year when he joined us and signed na employee conract). I pointed out that as this was work directly in competiton with us he was not allowed to do this. I took legal advice form our Employment solicitors and he was sent a letter to this effect.

The next day this guy went off on sick leave (something he threatened to do at the end of the meeting).

Last week one of my salesmen was visiting a customer of ours when he saw the employee working at the premises (bear in mind we have a sick note up to the end of September from him. He admitted doing paid work for the company (the company in question are not interested and just want him to complete the work. They correctly say it is between us and our employee, but their morals stink!).

We invited him to an investigatory meeting but he has sent in a letter stating he has now resigned his position as he believes his actions are gross mi-conduct and is suprised we haven't dismissed him already. however, we are going through our disciplinary procedures the correct way as advised by our employment lawyers with a view to dismiss him if the case was found. We have also paid him for his time off sick, which I understand we are able to claim back from him.

Today we have carried out a stock check as we know the exact equipment and chemicals he needs to carry out the work. Bear in mind we carried out a FULL stock check only 5 weeks ago and logged all the batch numbers of our equipment as we had a new SAGE system installed. We have found stock errors totalling in excess of £1,000 and the only explanation can be that this guy has taken this stock.

I have checked our CCTV and unfortunately it only goes back 7 days and he went on sick leave just prior to this.

What action can I take as I can only summise he took the stock. The only proof would be to check his garage which I'm sure he wouldn't let me do. Should I report this to the police and what is th elikely hood they would investigate.

[EDDIE51]

You have just 2 choices, report all this to the police or let it go.
No one else can do anything, once reported the police will decide to investigate or not.

[RohitVerma__]

In situations like this, where an employee appears to have acted in breach of contract, potentially committed theft, and shown clear disregard for the terms of employment, several avenues for action are available:

Report Theft: Report stock discrepancy to the police for potential investigation.

Strengthen Safeguards: Improve inventory controls, extend CCTV retention, and tighten contract terms on competition.

Also there are software that tracks computer activity like wAnywhere to monitor and employee compliance more effectively.