Legal Aspect of Business: Handling Employee Theft

This article provides legal advice to handle employee theft in a business. It suggests following the ACAS Code of Practice and conducting a fair investigation to resolve the issue. The article also discusses the importance of confidentiality, evidence collection, and report writing. The case involves a small cafeteria where the owner suspects an employee of stealing money from the cashbox. The owner is concerned about dismissing the employee, who is pregnant, and getting sued for it.

Legal Aspect of Business

Table of Contents
Case..................................................................................................................................................3
Legal Advice....................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11

Case
Adam runs a small cafeteria where he employs part-time staff members. In last two months, he
realized that the value of collected money was not in accordance with the receipts. Adam
mentioned about his concern in a general meeting to all the staff members and starts suspecting
Jane who seemed stressed when he explained about the situation. In addition, another employee
Hillary told Adam that she saw Jane acting suspiciously while ringing order into the cashbox
however, she did not provide any details. Adam does not know what to do because when he
called Jane in his office and asked her about the missing money, Jane became seriously
depressed. She came back and asked him to grant her the maternity leave within few months.
Adam is confused because he wants to resolve the issue of missing money and if Jane has stolen,
he wants to dismiss her but, he has the fear of getting sued by Jane for dismissing her when she
is pregnant. Furthermore, he is also concerned that he has no proof for claiming that she is
responsible for stealing.
Legal Advice
Dear Adam,
I am here to inform you about the best possible ways you can apply to handle this situation. The
ACAS Code of Practice provides practical guidance for the purpose of handling disciplinary and
grievance issues in the workplace. This Code of Practice include consideration by the employer
and the employees to resolve disciplinary and grievance issues within the workplace (ACAS,
2015). Various potential disciplinary or grievance issues can usually be resolved informally such
as minor misconduct or unsatisfactory performance with the effective use of this Code of
Practice. It will help you to deal with the issues fairly, consistently and promptly and

investigations can easily be made to gather all the facts of case (UK Government, 2018). In
ACAS, there are stepwise procedures to conduct workplace investigations.
As it considers the organizational preparation for the investigation to take place, the rules should
be followed by you along with precise investigation and if you prefer, you can also choose a
suitable investigator for investigating the matter. The policies and procedures existing within the
organization should be taken into consideration in order to conduct formal investigation of the
issue (UK Government, 2018). However, if the policy does not have a clear approach regarding
such an issue, an investigation should still be conducted depending upon the seriousness of the
issue as it is a matter of theft.
In this case, you should decide whether the investigation of the case is necessary or not. As he
wants to resolve the issue of missing money, he should establish the rules to be followed during
investigation and should select a suitable investigator who must not be biased towards any of the
party (UK Government , 2018). You should try to resolve the issue through preliminary
investigation if possible by gathering evidences and, if evidences go against Jane, then you will
have the legitimate reason to dismiss her from the job. ACAS considers informal approach for
resolution of the issue to be as the most suitable option at any stage of the process. The clarity in
the terms of reference is essential as it assists in completing the investigation on time, clarifies
the exact remittance of the investigator, and reduces disruption to the daily business requirements
of the organization (Citizens Advice, 2018). You should keep it in mind that the matter remains
confidential as you have already discussed the issue in general meeting. But now, when you have
suspicion over Jane, you should make every possible effort wherever possible to keep the matter
confidential. It should be ensured that there would be no negative impact upon Jane till her act is
proved. The morale of the other employees should not be affected due to the matter and the

disclosure of matter might also affect the evidential proofs against the wrong doer. Furthermore,
you are not sure of the guilt of Jane and you have no proof of it as well.
You should draft the investigation plan and should identify who should be called to the
investigation meeting, what type of evidences should be gathered and how to gather them, and to
contact the parties involved in the issue. You should consider the terms of reference and what is
required to be established and in case of time constraints, the evidences must also be collected
within specific time period. With the progress of the investigation, other possible sources might
also come to light or establish relevancy. It should keep it in mind that reasonable investigation
is to be conducted and there is no requirement of getting into each and every detail of the issue.
You should also find the relevant parties that can provide information related to the investigation
and should be asked to provide witness statement as well. The evidences should be collected by
holding the investigation meetings at an initial stage of the investigation. Particularly, in a case
of complaint or grievance, the investigator requires to interview them to understand the matter
completely. In a potential disciplinary issue, the investigator should consider interview of the
employees at an initial stage, which could help in establishing what facts are under dispute and
enable him to emphasize on such an issue. Additionally, if the employee suspicious to be guilty,
admit the allegations against them, it might eliminate the requirement of investigation however,
the reason behind the incident might still be investigated. The investigation should be conducted
in a private room without any interruption at the workplace and during working hours. Instead,
where greater degree of confidentiality is essential, it might be better to hold meeting outside the
organization after working hours.
So you should draft an investigation plan and decide who must be called for the meeting,
however, it would be possible to call Jane for investigation meeting after collecting required

evidences against her so that her guilt could be proved. You should ensure that the investigation
should be completed in time as Jane is going to take maternity leave after few months, before
which, you should collect the evidence to find if she is guilty or not. You should keep the
confidentiality of the matter and should conduct the investigation in a private room within the
working hours and it should not be informed to others not related to the issue. The related parties
to the issue must only be informed so, Jane should only be informed in written about the
allegations against her and that the investigation is going to take place. She should also be
informed about the person to be contacted in case of any queries.
The investigation meeting should be conducted however, some investigations only require
collecting the evidences written as well as physical, so it is required in such circumstances. The
investigation meeting helps in conducting interview of a person involved in the matter and it
must not turn into the disciplinary meeting as, disciplinary action requires separate meeting. If
investigation meeting becomes essential, the investigator requires to plan how to get them
recorded as the investigator might personally record the meeting or someone else to make notes
of the meeting. The notes should include the statement of the witnesses and interviewee and is
considered as a witness itself. With the agreement of the interviewee, the meeting can also be
recorded by the use of an audio device. There are few tips and techniques that should be
employed to support the knowledge, skills and approaches of the investigator. The investigator
should focus on questioning technique, listening abilities and body language of themselves and
the interviewee. The questioning technique must involve a mix of open questions, closed-ended
questions and probing questions and such others in order to take out the maximum possible
responses from the interviewee. On the other hand, some questioning approaches such as
interrogative questions, leading questions and multiple questions should be avoided. If she

refuses, you must make every effort possible to convince her to attend the investigation meeting
in order to resolve the issue. You should call for an investigation meeting with Jane and if it
requires disciplinary action, the separate disciplinary meeting can be conducted. It should be
preferable for you to record the investigation meeting with the permission from Jane because you
are already concerned about the matters where, pregnant employees sue their employers for
dismissing them. You will have the proof in the form of recordings of meeting with which, you
will become able to prove if she is guilty and she will not be able to take undue advantage of her
pregnancy to bring the matter into litigation. You should emphasize upon conducting the best
suitable questioning techniques while investigating the matter because Jane is already agitated
and she might refuse to be a part of the investigation meeting.
The evidences should be collected and facts of matter should be established without taking into
consideration whether the evidences are in support of allegations put on the suspected wrong
doer or challenges the allegations (Crunch, 2012). After collecting the evidences, every evidence
should be objectively analyzed regarding what it reveals, doubts regarding the reliability and
credibility of the evidences, supporting and contradictory evidences or requirement of any other
evidences. The copy of the witnesses should be signed by them and the copy should be given to
the interviewee so that it should be confirmed that they agree with the statements given by the
witnesses. Similarly, the statements given by the interviewee should also be signed by them and
if they want changes, the amendments should also be signed by them. In the case of interviewee
refusing to sign the statement, it should also be mentioned by the investigator that interviewee
refused to confirm about the accuracy of the meeting (Magrath Sheldrick, 2018). You should
gather all the written evidences, documents and physical evidences related to the investigation
which include electronic evidences, CCTV records, phone records and other relevant records. In

exceptional circumstances, when there is clear and legitimate justification to search the
possessions of the employee but, with the consent of the employees in order to make it legal. If
the employee refuses to allow the search, it should also be noted in the investigation report. You
should gather sufficient number of evidences whether in the form of CCTV footage of theft or
calculating from the receipts or from the other eye witnesses who might have seen Jane or
somebody else taking money from the cashbox. As you do not have sufficient proofs against her
and, you cannot directly blame her for theft of money. Furthermore, you should check the
credibility and reliability of witnesses whether they are telling the truth or lying. You should
collect the statements of witnesses and should provide its signed copy to Jane so that she could
get agreed with the statements given by other colleagues. As the matter is related to theft, you
can conduct search of personal possessions of Jane with the permission of Jane and in her
presence at the time of search.
The writing of investigation report is to establish the facts of issue whether they are reasonably
possible and suitable, so it is proved to be beneficial if the details and findings of the
investigation are in written form. The report should include all the facts of issue and whether
there are mitigating circumstances that require consideration. Excluding any information might
make the investigation open to the accusations of biasness or filtering the evidences to be
suitable to the findings of the investigation (NI Business Info, 2018). It should reflect the
personal conclusions of the investigation and if advice from third party has been taken, it should
also be mentioned. The report should be written in a specific format and should be structured
properly. It should include certain specific headings like introduction, process of investigation,
investigation findings, conclusion of the report along with the supporting documents and
evidences. ACAS recommends to use the investigation report template developed by it, in

accordance with their own needs. So, you should use appropriate language and should keep it
concise and include all the evidences that has been collected. You should arrange the evidences
on the basis of uncontested facts, contested facts and unsubstantiated claims. You might
recommend formal action, informal action or not any action to be taken into consideration
depending on the outcomes of the investigation.
You should prepare written report of the overall investigation with all the details, evidences and
witnesses along with the findings of the investigator. You should also adapt the investigation
report template and should write about the investigation carried out by him in theft case in his
cafeteria. After writing the report, you should make a recommendation and suggest if there is
requirement of any further action or not. In this case, you might have to take the initiative of
disciplinary hearing because Jane or someone else might prove to be accused of stealing the
money (Gorry, 2014).
After the completion of investigation, you can proceed for any further action depending on the
outcomes of the investigation. In disciplinary matter, further steps can be taken into
consideration as well as the sanction that might be imposed in the case of disciplinary action can
be established (Larkin, 2018). After the disciplinary hearing, you will come to know if there is
requirement of making amendments or updating the policies and procedures on the basis of
needs of the organization and it would be appropriate to utilize the expertise of the employees as
well (Johnson, 2017).
In this case, you are the only investigator and Jane is the suspect on whom, you are going to
carry out investigation. You should conclude the report and suggest what kind of action would be
appropriate. If Jane will prove to be guilty of theft, then you should consider disciplinary action
to be taken against her. The disciplinary action to be taken against her might include her

dismissal as you have indicated earlier. You are concerned because she is pregnant and she might
sue you for dismissing her from the job due to pregnancy.
As you are highly concerned about the legal action Jane might take against you because she is
pregnant but you also wants to resolve the issue. In order to be fair and clear, you should adopt
Code of Conduct suggested by ACAS to take disciplinary action against her. You should conduct
investigation on Jane in an appropriate manner so that it might not hurt the sentiments of Jane
however, if she is proved to be guilty of stealing the money from the cashbox, you will be able to
dismiss her without any hesitation of being sued by her. Thus, by following the above mentioned
strategies, you will be able to take legally appropriate initiatives in this regard.
References
ACAS, 2015. Conducting Workplace Investgation. [Online] Available at:
http://m.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/q/0/Conducting_Workplace_Investigations_Nov.pdf [Accessed
10 December 2018].
Citizens Advice, 2018. Dealing with disciplinary action at work. [Online] Available at:
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/problems-at-work/dealing-with-disciplinary-action-and-
dismissal-at-work/ [Accessed 8 December 2018].
Crunch, 2012. Disciplinary procedures: common mistakes made by employers. [Online]
Available at: https://www.crunch.co.uk/knowledge/employment/disciplinary-procedures-
common-mistakes-made-by-employers/ [Accessed 8 December 2018].
Gorry, T., 2014. A Step by Step Disciplinary Procedure-From Verbal Warning to Dismissal.
[Online] Available at: https://employmentrightsireland.com/a-step-by-step-disciplinary-
procedure-from-verbal-warning-to-dismissal/ [Accessed 8 December 2018].

Johnson, M., 2017. Disciplinary warnings. [Online] Available at:
https://www.rocketlawyer.co.uk/article/disciplinary-warnings.rl [Accessed 8 December 2018].
Larkin, N., 2018. How to give a disciplinary. [Online] Available at: https://www.cv-
library.co.uk/recruitment-insight/how-to-give-disciplinary/ [Accessed 8 December 2018].
Magrath Sheldrick, 2018. Discipline and Terminations. [Online] Available at:
http://www.magrath.co.uk/practice-areas/employment-solicitors-in-london/discipline-and-
terminations [Accessed 8 December 2018].
NI Business Info, 2018. Disciplinary procedures. [Online] Available at:
https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/disciplinary-procedures [Accessed 8 December 2018].
UK Government , 2018. Taking disciplinary action against an employee. [Online] Available at:
https://www.gov.uk/taking-disciplinary-action/writing-disciplinary-proceedings [Accessed 8
December 2018].
UK Government, 2018. Disciplinary procedures and action against you at work. [Online]
Available at: https://www.gov.uk/disciplinary-procedures-and-action-at-work [Accessed 8
December 2018].
UK Government, 2018. Taking disciplinary action against an employee. [Online] Available at:
https://www.gov.uk/taking-disciplinary-action [Accessed 8 December 2018].