Can an employer terminate an employee for stealing if the surveillance tape shows otherwise?
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Can an employer terminate an employee for stealing if the surveillance tape shows otherwise?
I ama night auditor at a hotel and I was fired for stealing all the money out the register. There are cameras all over the hotel including behind the desk where I work. When I left work the following morning, my boss called me back an hour and 45 minutes later to say all the money in the register was missing. There are 2 cash drawers and only the cash in bottom drawer was supposedly missing. I said that I wasn’t going to be put back on the schedule until he review the tapes. When I called him back 48 hours later, he said that I was fired and I didn’t have time to be reviewing a tape. I
Asked on June 25, 2009 under Employment Labor Law, Missouri
Answers:
MD, Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 15 years ago | Contributor
There is more to this story that you are not telling.
1) Is this the first issue/problem you had with your employer/supervisor?
2) Have you been written up before for something else?
3) Are there discriminatory reasons behind this?
4) Most states (absent discriminatory reasons and absent being under a contract) follow "at-will" employment, which means that you can be fired with or without cause.
Have you filed for unemployment? Do it sooner rather than later. Then, contact the same Dept of Labor to potentially file a complaint for wrongful termination or before you do that, try www.attorneypages.com to locate a labor lawyer in your state. Check his or her record at the Missouri State Bar.
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