I spoke to my Mum yesterday.
She works Monday and Tuesday for our local Post Office (my old Local Post Office) which is franchised through Martins Newsagent. She went into work Monday as normal, after 10 days holiday and was met by a "fat man" who took her aside and said that £2000 had gone missing from her cash bag in the safe. They said they are investigating, but she is suspended (on full pay) until the disciplinary hearing.
Speaking to Mum it turns out that she puts her till cash into her cash bag every day with an envelope with her intials on. The manager and everyone else at the Post Office (and the newsagent) has access to that safe because the key is left in it and there is a security number-lock thing on the door into the backrooms. That's point number 1.
Point Number 2, the new manager of the Post Office (Carla) is completely useless, and has been cooking the books. When the fund doesn't add up right at the end of the day, she just makes it up to the right figure with a few quid here or there and says "oh, it'll turn up" all of the evening ladies at the Post Office have seen her do it and she doesn't seem to care. My thoughts are that either she, or Pauline (one of the other n00bs) realised how far out they had got and nicked the cash from mums bag while she was on holiday so they wouldn't get found out.
Point Number 3, Martins don't really give a toss about proving one way or the other, and there is the chance that they will just fire her rather than have to do a proper job of it. They know they can replace her easily enough.
First of all, I'm angry that none of the evening ladies will do or say anything to jeapordise their own jobs. I understand that, but FFS this is Fraud, it's a criminal offence we're taking about here which makes them all complicit!!
Secondly I'm angry that someone is trying to make my mum take the fall for their own incompetence!!
Thirdly I'm angry with my mum that she's not even preparing a defence for her disciplinary hearing. Her take on it is that she'll go into the hearing, they will say that the money is missing, she'll say she didn't take it and that's that.
Her friend Sheila is going to attend with her as a colleague, but only on the proviso that mum doesn't ask her to say anything incriminating (which leads me to wonder WTF is the point?) I've offered to attend with her if she wants me to, Dad can't, he'll just lose his temper.
I said 2 things. The burden of proof is on them. If they can't prove she did it, and if they try to fire her, she can have them call in the Police to make a proper criminal investigation. If they refuse she can sue Martins for unfair dismissal and something legal that means character assasination.
Secondly (because I know my Mum) if she doesn't want to make that much of a fuss, she can tell them that because they can't prove she did it, she won't accept being fired and they can accept her resignation instead.
Either way, she's a 62 year old woman who works part-time at a Post Office within walking distance of their house, their household income will get hit to the tune of about £300 per month which when you consider that they are both living on pensions otherwise, is a hell of a lot! She has a bad back and can't take a job which will involve her being on her feet humping and dumping boxes, she'd have to look at a till job at Sainsburys or something like that instead. It turns out that neither the PO nor Martins give references so that shouldn't be a problem in terms of her getting another job, but it still sucks.
I've spoken to her again today and she's got a bit more fight in her, I've typed out a series of statements for her to print out and take with her (in case they do her hearing when I can't get there) she can read them off the paper if she has to. I have copied them in here because I generally wondered what you thought, whether there's anything else she can do or say:
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| Quote: - There is a possibility that they will do their investigation, exonerate you and it'll be back to work Monday. - If they bring you in to the meeting and say that they can't find definite proof of who stole the money, explain the system, tell them how you store your cash, what the procedures are, who has access to the money and that you are a prime candidate for being "fitted up" since they knew you were going on holiday for 10 days. Ask them what they are planning to do. The burden of proof is on them, and without it they really can't fire you. What would they fire you for? - If they are planning to leave it because there is no proof, then it's up to you to decide if you want to keep working there or not. If you decide that you want to stay, then you need to (in writing) make someone in authority aware of your suspicions as to what is going on with the books. If they do nothing, then that's their problem, if it all comes out later and you didn't say anything you could be considered complicit in fraud and you don't want that. - If they still think you took it and are planning to discipline you (check your terms of employment for the disciplinary procedure) then find out to what extent. - If they want to fire you, explain that they are accusing you of theft and firing you on that basis, which is a criminal matter, so why aren't they calling the Police? If they don't want to (the usual course of action is to say "there's no need to take it that far"), then you tell them to call the Police on your behalf to instigate a criminal investigation as a result of an accusation of theft. This has two effects, firstly it demonstrates your conviction of your own innocence, secondly it indicates to them that you aren't going down without a fight, and that it's going to get very messy, no quiet brushing you under the carpet and replacing you. Then tell them that you will be taking out an injunction of unfair dismissal against them if they fore you without cause. - If none of the above works to make them either back down, or conduct a more "thorough" investigation, then (while they wait) call the non-emergency number for your local Police Station (find it and put it into your phone before you go) and explain that you want to lodge a formal complaint against your employer and ask them to send a constable round to take statements as soon as possible. Don't leave Martins, stay there until a policeman comes out. - If none of this works, tell them that you won't allow them to fire you, since they can't prove that you've done anything wrong, they will have to accept your resignation instead. Then make a special point of explaining to the fat man that he'd better make sure his management and business are in order, otherwise this will keep happening, explain your suspicions, not as sour grapes, but as a warning of what will happen in the future. - If it does all come out ok and you go back to work there, insist that some more "secure" procedures are put in place, even just writing the amount of money in your cash bag at the end of your shift and getting your boss, or the other cashier to countersign it. | |
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So, what do you think?
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