Stolen Money

bamahr

I work for a family owned and run company. One of the Owners has rental property not related to the business. His tenants pay their rent through the Company Receptionist - most pay in cash. Over the course of a month $1600 has been taken. The system for collection was poor - the cash would be put in an envelope and placed in his mail box.

He wants to put a notice to the employee's that states - the money has been taken - he wants it returned - he is filing a police report. A little too late - to put a camera in this area. My other concern is - he is not the most organized person - I am afraid he could have possibly lost several envelopes. The employees in this office are close and I don't think they are going to respond well to this. We also have his rental property laborers that comes in and out all day. Do I try to discourage the notice? Any suggestions?

Don D

I see nothing wrong with him advising people:
-Money has been stolen
-I want it returned
-I am notifying the police by filing a report

I would expect him to do that. I would not expect that he could accuse specific people or have you terminate someone he suspected without a successful police investigation resulting in a conviction or an admission.

Rockie

We recently had a case in one of our office where an employee was one of several collecting money from patients. Several hundred dollars went missing and all suspicions, of course, pointed to her. Even though everyone felt this person truly did steal the money, because of the poor system of handling money, nothing could be proved absolutely. Funds were not in a secure area and any other employee could have gotten easy assess to them. The employee was actually called into my office and grilled about this and she could offer no explanation as to what had happened to this money. As I explained to the office manager, measures would have to be put in place to make sure accountability and dual control of funds could be assured. This employee knew exactly where the weakness in the system was and took advantage of it. I understand she has been under suspicion before, but again nothing could be proved because others had access to the money. Measures are in place now where it would be easy to pinpoint who had access to the funds.

Some folks were upset because this employee wasn't fired, but I simply asked them if they would be willing to sit on a witness stand and be grilled by a defense attorney that they absolutely could state that this person stole the money. Most said "Well, if you put it that way.....".

The way most thiefs are able to steal from companies is they find a weakness in the system and then take advantage of it. I would suggest that your boss not take any action against an employee unless he can prove who did it. However, I don't see anything wrong with having a group meeting stating that funds are missing and that steps will be put in place to track cash from now on. Anyone caught stealing will be immediately terminated. He may also state that he is sorry that such measures have to be put in place,but the honest folks have nothing to worry about.