Falsely Accused, Do I Have a Case?

[SavvyAnna]

My question involveI was called into a 'confrence' with my boss and a man named Jim, who supposedly works with loss prevention. They start by asking me if I know the World MArket employee discount policies, I respond with a"Yes, only immidiate family and I can use it," he then corrects me and says only immediate family that lives with you can use it. So I then assume this confrence is about the fact that I let my friend use my discount card several times. They hand me copies of receipts that I used my discount for, and ask me if I recal signing for them, I remember some of them, Jim then asks me to tell him how these purchases were paid for, I then see they were paid with a WM gift card. He then says that a miss Destiny Mornan(my firend) had recently returned some itmes that hadn't been sold in Tucson, this year.... Ok? He then accuses her of stealing these items, returning them for store credit, and then using the card with my employee discount card. Which lead to his next accusation, that I either asked her to return stolen goods, or I filled in false information on the return slip. I tell him she would never do such a thing, nor would I, and that if these items have been stolen(I didnt know what these items were yet) that I did not know. He starts throwing accusations at me, indirectly calling me a liar, asking me why I wouldn't be aware of my 'best friend' stealing, telling me to confess otherwise they'll have to bring the authorities into it. They even claim to have contacted 'miss Mornan', and have already recieved "a statement" from her, directly after he says this, he says he'll need me to confess by the end of the day or they'll take legal action. By this time I'm sobbing and I refuse to listen to them, I know my friend would never do such a thing, she'd never steal, and she'd never lie and accuse me of stealing, so I demand they let me speak to her, they don't. While I'm crying, Jim very rudely says, "HEY, why are you crying?" I say, "because I don't believe what you're telling me, I need to talk to my friend," he then replies with an even meaner," Look kid, I deal with thousands upon thousands of dollars a day, you think I wanna be here for 200 dollars? stop wasting my time and start talking." I don't. I just cry,and leave. They say they need the receipts, or a confession by the end of the day, or else. Well, I speak to my friend after she gets off of work, she's infuriated. She tells me there's no way in hell they could have contacted her, because she put her last cell phone number on the return slip(the return slip asks for you address,name,DL# and phone#) because she wasn't used to her new phone number yet .So, they LIED to me to get me to accuse her of something she didn't do. Or to get me to confess to something I can't confess to. They also lied when they said these items had not been sold in Tucson,this year, because when I finally realised what one of the items were, I recall selling that very item no less than a month ago in my store. My family wants me to hire a civil lawyer, and my friend is willing to take this to court as well. The ONLY problem is, I do not have receipts to either of these items, the item that belonged to me, I've owned for nearly a year, and I gave my friend this ite as a Yule present for her Alter. The item that belonged to my friend, was as ahouse warming gift she revieved when she moved into her 1st apartment, a year ago. What should I do, and CAN they actually DO anything to me? They fired me, obviously, but I wouldn't go back to work for them even if I did get this cleared up, or if I did sue. I don't however, want my work history to be ruined. And now I'm out of the job in a city that is EXTEMELY over populated and SO hard to get a job in! Please help!

Let me also mention, that while these purchases were made, I was living with her, whether or not they'll believe that, it's true. The items we purchased together were for both of us, i.e., food, dishes, towels.

[cyjeff]

What is your question?

Are you asking if it was legal for them to fire you? The answer is yes.

Are you asking if it was legal for them to suspect you of stealing because you were purchasing things under discount and returning them for full price? The answer is yes.

You misused the company discount and got fired for it. Perfectly proper.

[SavvyAnna]

What is your question?

Are you asking if it was legal for them to fire you? The answer is yes.

Are you asking if it was legal for them to suspect you of stealing because you were purchasing things under discount and returning them for full price? The answer is yes.

You misused the company discount and got fired for it. Perfectly proper.

In Arizona, it's always 'legal'.

You are just as bad as them, accusing an innocent person, by maticulously picking the slightly bad looking parts of the story, and blowing them out of porportion. These items, these 'stolen' items, were gifts recieved over a year ago, one of the items, hasn't been carried by this store in over six months, I've been working here for almost three months, THREE MONTHS. They have no proof that I bought them in the first place, because one of the items wer enot mine, and the other was a gift. But they also do not have proof that I DID steal anything.

Bottom line is, they assumed,they did nothing but ASSUME these items were stolen, simply because they hadn't been purchased IN TUCSON, THIS year. Absolutely absurd. Especially considering, I just recently moved here from Prescott, and a year before that I lived in California.

Secondly, read before you speak. You make yourself look like a troll.

[Betty3]

The problem is even if you didn't steal anything, it is not illegal for an employer to terminate you for suspected theft. You can be terminated at any time for any reason not prohibited by law (ie age, religion, gender).

[cyjeff]

In Arizona, it's always 'legal'.

You are just as bad as them, accusing an innocent person, by maticulously picking the slightly bad looking parts of the story, and blowing them out of porportion. These items, these 'stolen' items, were gifts recieved over a year ago, one of the items, hasn't been carried by this store in over six months, I've been working here for almost three months, THREE MONTHS. They have no proof that I bought them in the first place, because one of the items wer enot mine, and the other was a gift. But they also do not have proof that I DID steal anything.

Bottom line is, they assumed,they did nothing but ASSUME these items were stolen, simply because they hadn't been purchased IN TUCSON, THIS year. Absolutely absurd. Especially considering, I just recently moved here from Prescott, and a year before that I lived in California.

Secondly, read before you speak. You make yourself look like a troll.

You seem to think that your long diatribe effects the law somehow.

You are incorrect.

Employers are not courts of law that must assemble witnesses and gather evidence before a termination. The suspicion is enough.

Unless you believe you were terminated for your membership in a protected class of employee (race, national origin, sex, etc), your termination was legal.

Telling you what you don't want to hear doesn't make me a troll.

You are always free to obtain the services of a local attorney if you don't think I am correct.

[cyjeff]

One more point.

You said that you understood the company policy allowed only you and immediate family to use your discount.

Then, you say that you let your friend use your discount card several times.

I have, personally, fired people for misusing the discount in this way. That is stealing money from the company.

Stealing is one of the big three in employee immediate termination. Violence, stealing and insubordination will all get you immediately fired.

[panther10758]

Item is purchased using "your" discount then returtned at full value! How is that not stealing?

[LawResearcherMissy]

Secondly, read before you speak. You make yourself look like a troll.

And you look like an ungrateful fool, throwing a temper tantrum because you didn't like the perfectly CORRECT answer you were given.

Avail yourself of Google and look up "at will employment". Research before you write, and you'll look like less of an ass.

Your employer can fire you because it's a day ending in Y, and there's naught you can do about it. As it is, your employer had a reason - and a good one at that. You admit to misusing your company discount. Just because they accused you of misusing it in a different fashion doesn't give you a walk on misusing it to begin with.

[SavvyAnna]

Item is purchased using "your" discount then returtned at full value! How is that not stealing?

I never said that wasn't theft, I said I never did that, which is exactly what you accused me of doing, THAT is when you make yourself look like a troll, trying to make me look like a villian by lying. And to well, all of you...

Read the story again. I never once asked if this was ground for termination, truth is, I had put my two weeks in three days before this mess. That, was never part of the question, you're all just trying to find something to nag about, I never not even ONCE asked if they are 'allowed to fire me'.. The issue was, the badgering, the lies,the THREATENING. Why would a company lie so much to get an answer out of me? Why would they threaten to withold my paycheck if I didn't confess, why would they claim to have spoken to my best friend, and then claim to have 'gotten a statement' from her, when they never did?

This doesn't look suspicious, to anyone, seriously?

I spoke to human resources today, I gave them the whole story. They were appauled. The man I spoke to said this was extremely out of the ordinary and that if they actually were going to press charges or involve any sort of 'authority', they would have from step one, the entire 'procedure' was out of line and also, undocumented. Also, my civil lawyer, agrees. She says if they do keep my check, as they have threatened, I have the options to sue.

[cyjeff]

So your question isn't if your termination was valid but, rather, if the LP people were allowed to yell at you to get you to confess?

If that is the case, no, it is not illegal either. Usually, loss prevention people are not very nice to people they think are stealing. That may include yelling and threatening.

Nothing... repeat nothing... that happened to you is illegal.