What are the Action Steps to take while dealing with Employee Theft?

Employee theft needs immediate action in any organization. It can occur in different forms. At times, it can be an employee stealing money or something serious like stealing sensitive company data. A Criminal Lawyer Perth can help you deal with this issue. They come up with an action plan to help you sought out the issue.

Let’s explore the steps required to deal with the theft.

1. Get a Strong Evidence

Start collecting concrete facts and documents that enable you prove the theft. After gathering the vital documents, you must maintain a chain of custody to ensure nothing gets tampered with. Check out the surveillance camera in your office to gather video evidence.

By preserving evidence, you can prepare a comprehensive investigative report. This report encourages you to take legal action.

2. Craft a Secret Tipline

Other employees working in your company might have seen a person stealing. Mostly they don’t come and talk about it due to lingering fear of unnecessary drama. In this scenario, outlining a secret tip will compel people to come forward and report stealing without thinking to show their identities and putting their safety into danger.

A Criminal Lawyer helps you in creating secret tipline to encourage people and share what they have seen.

3. Speak to the Employee

Criminal Lawyers Perth suggest a one-on-one conversation with the person involved in the theft. But they don’t impose any allegation of stealing during conversation. If they accept stealing, you can ask them to narrate themselves during the discussion.

Ensure to be polite to allow the employee to be comfortable. When they are at ease, they will tell you why they opted to steal. They might say they needed extra money or someone had threatened them for the money.

Based on the application, you must decide how to proceed. For example: you might want to give them the last chance after hearing their story. So, a conversation with the employee is crucial to reach onto a conclusion or before taking the next step.

4. Conduct a Polygraph Test

If you think your employees are not speaking the truth, ask them to take a polygraph test. They will not lose anything if they are speaking truth. But if not so, they say no to you. They want to hide something that’s why they are denying it. Whatsoever the case, you can’t force the employee for a polygraph test.

5. Think about Terminating the Employee

If you find an employee stealing red-handed, you want to terminate them instantly. But terminating any employee from your company can cause legal issues. So, it’s great to walk on the guidelines of a criminal defence lawyer.

They will make sure that you’re not ignoring any company policies to terminate any employee. A lawyer can help you deal with the issues linked with contracts, bargaining agreements, and so on.

6. Inform the Police

A Criminal Lawyer Perth will suggest you not deduct anything from your employees’ salary. However, if you’re thinking of terminating the employee and impose charges depending on solid proof, avoid deducting anything from the salary.

7. Don’t Defame the Employee

Even if you spot an employee stealing by your eyes, you must not defame them publicly. You don’t want them to show you the legal notice against you for defaming them. You must refrain from discussing issues with other employees in your organisation.

Wrapping Up:

Addressing employee stealing needs an approach that blends communication and proactive measures. By executing the eight action steps in this article, companies can safeguard the defences against theft and encourage a culture of accountability and integrity within the company