Time Theft at Work

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Florida

I work for BestBuy and I recently went into work because I was late upon receiving a call from my supervisor that i was suppose to be in the store at 10:00am the night before the companies online schedule was being "updated" so I was not able to confirm my time for the next day, but I was confident my shift was a closing one from 4:00pm to 9:45 or 10:00pm.

(Also keep in my i am on my last warning for being late and although i had not been late for the past 3 months and i was getting out of my final warning i still did not want to be late, but there was no way around it so I knew going into work i would more than likely get fired)

I come into work and try to punch in, but the computer would not let me punch in so i did a "time edit" in order to punch in. I successfully punch in, but the time was wrong because the time edit was for 10:00am instead of the time i came in which was like 10:50 (something) I think to myself well its no big they'll just probably tell me to fix it. The day goes by we were slammed and i did my job and stayed 45 minutes over pretty much in order to make up for loss time.

Note: i was late for about 45-60 minutes

I go home and next day i go back into work i clock in early everything is fine, but when i went to punch in it asked me to "acknowledge" my hours so i did and again I'm seeing the wrong time edit, but since they always tell us to fix the time discrepancies I just acknowledge the hours so i can punch in and get on with my work. A little bit later the Manager on Duty (MoD) and my supervisor which doesn't really see eye to eye with me call me into the office and start telling me all these things about the time edit and why did I do it and that if i thought I should be payed for my drive from my house into work and to all this I'm answering " no, i don't think you should i wasn't here" so then they ask me "so why did you do it?" and I said "do what?" then they go onto to explain vaguely that i had just committed a "time theft" and that i needed to write a statement, which I did and sign and date it.

At this point they are telling me that its illegal in the state of Florida to do time theft and basically scaring me and treating me like a thief then they asked If i had all of my claims clear on the piece of paper. I proceed by saying yes since i stated in the paper exactly what happened. Then they said that someone from corporate would call me in regards to the issues and that they would decide if i was going to be terminated or not.

After all this my question is basically, Can BestBuy criminally prosecute me for an honest mistake in the time sheet that my managers and supervisors could have potentially fixed by telling me to time edit it again?

Honest mistake? You stated you were queried the following day when you punched in and simply ignored effecting the correction.

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but when i went to punch in it asked me to "acknowledge" my hours so i did and again I'm seeing the wrong time edit, but since they always tell us to fix the time discrepancies I just acknowledge the hours so i can punch in and get on with my work

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so, even though they told you to fix the time discrepancies, you refused which means you are stating the time is correct.
Yes, theft of time is the same as stealing money from your employer. It causes them to pay you for time not worked.

Hmm I see your point although not objectively analyzed. If i wanted to do time theft first off why would i try and do it after I was called into the store for being late. strike one.

Acknowledgement of hours serves much like the information provided on the taxes we all "acknowledge" that we are providing the correct information when we submit it, but guess what we are humans and we STILL make mistakes, which is why the state, IRS, tax programs what have you, sends them back and they ask you to clarify information which does not seem to match up, Strike two.

Lastly, both my supervisor and MoD completely bypassed the action of approaching me with a discrepancy in my hours, because just so you know if you didn't know and I'm sure you don't being a supervisor means you are paid to overlook things that can go wrong and fix them as they happen, which usually ends on confrontation based on evidence of the discrepancies. all they did was ACCUSE me without verified evidence.

Whomever you are if you have nothing else than to do than to provide "flaming" criticism of peoples problem then id suggest you find another hobby. Get off your high horse and provide with constructive advise not flaming judgements based on your twisted values.

Furthermore, I had to stay at work on that same day one hour longer that I was meant to be scheduled to make up for my loss time. so if we come down to it I did not really time steal. Hows that for honest

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Windom;534512]Hmm I see your point although not objectively analyzed. If i wanted to do time theft first off why would i try and do it after I was called into the store for being late. strike one.

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who cares? the fact is; by refusing to correct your punch in time, you attempted to gain 50 minutes of pay illegally. Whether you wanted to do it or not is irrelevant. That fact is; you did.

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Acknowledgement of hours serves much like the information provided on the taxes we all "acknowledge" that we are providing the correct information when we submit it, but guess what we are humans and we STILL make mistakes, which is why the state, IRS, tax programs what have you, sends them back and they ask you to clarify information which does not seem to match up, Strike two.

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you were reminded to correct the problem and you ignored it. You struck out at that point. There is no argument after that.

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Lastly, both my supervisor and MoD completely bypassed the action of approaching me with a discrepancy in my hours, because just so you know if you didn't know and I'm sure you don't being a supervisor means you are paid to overlook things that can go wrong and fix them as they happen, which usually ends on confrontation based on evidence of the discrepancies. all they did was ACCUSE me without verified evidence.

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they know what the computer prompted you to do. They know you failed to take corrective action.

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Whomever you are if you have nothing else than to do than to provide "flaming" criticism of peoples problem then id suggest you find another hobby. Get off your high horse and provide with constructive advise not flaming judgements based on your twisted values.

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there is no constructive criticism available for you. You did not correct the time registered when prompted to so it is assumed you were not going to change it. That means you stole time from them and as we all know; time is money.

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Furthermore, I had to stay at work on that same day one hour longer that I was meant to be scheduled to make up for my loss time. so if we come down to it I did not really time steal. Hows that for hones

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you stayed punched in so no, you didn't make up anything. You attempted to get paid for that 50 minutes you were not there. That is theft. Live with it. Learn from it.

"Can BestBuy criminally prosecute me for an honest mistake in the time sheet that my managers and supervisors could have potentially fixed by telling me to time edit it again?"

Criminally speaking only the DA can prosecute you for theft. Best buy can refer your information and confession to the DA's office, They decide if it is worth their time to spent on a tiny case like this. Mu guess it i not worth their time for a ten dollar case If you are onprobatin for anothe crime or warrying a suspended sentence, threy might take it up to revocate it.

Civilly, Best buy coudl take you to court for fraud but if they win, all the judge can only grant them damages for the money you stole. But if they already know the theft and don't pay you for that hour then their is nothign to gain by taking you to court. Not worth an atttoney fee
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Bottom line you are probably ok with legal exposure, but good luck finding a job or a job reference