Falsified expense claim
MaxW
8 Posts
The accounts dept have just told me that three employees have falsified an expense claim. After questioning, this is what the employees claim happened:
The employees (let's call them Will, Henderson, and Monsieur Passepartout) went out for a lunch meeting, which came to €30. They paid €10 each on their company credit cards. But just as they were leaving, the waiter rushed over and said that they'd been over-charged, and in fact the bill should have been just €25. To reward the waiter's honesty, they tipped him €2 and accepted €1 each which they returned to petty cash.
So they're claiming that they paid €9 each (€10 minus the one returned) plus the €2 tip. But 3 x €9 = €27, plus the €2 tip comes to €29. And their combined credit card account statements total €30 for the lunch. One of them has stolen €1 and falsified their expense claims, but won't admit it. Monsieur Passepartout suspects it was Henderson, who knows the staff at the restaurant.
What can I do in this situation? Can they all be dismissed for theft? They're clearly lying to cover one another.
Comments
This doesn't seem like theft to me, but just a misunderstanding. Besides, they didn't try to steal a large amount of money, unless I'm just totally missing the point since you're using another country's currency. It seems that you want to fire these guys for a difference of one dollar...doesn't that seem kind of harsh? And didn't they give back the different to your petty cash fund?
I would just give them an oral reprimand about company policy on expense report, document it and call it a day.
Someone is pulling our collective leg. [:)]
This is a variation on the old "missing dollar puzzle," which has floated around (and given people headaches) for a long time, now reincarnated as the "missing euro puzzle" in our globalized world and twisted into an HR quandary.
If you can't figure it out and tire of trying, the solution is here: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/8972/lessons/puzzle4.html
Then you can bother your friends and relatives with it.