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Employee Discount Violation

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  • 02-24-2016, 04:54 PM
    fasteddie911
    Employee Discount Violation
    My question involves criminal law for the state of: New Hampshire

    I was accused of violating the employee discount at the business I'm employed at, and while they are investigating the matter, I wanted to get some reassurance. Based over a long time period and how my workplace exercises its employee discount, I basically "double dipped" on the discount, unknowingly at the time, but now I can see what went wrong. It's an amount of $10 that I saved by do this, and I feel that this is really minor, but should I be concerned at all over criminal charges for such an action?
  • 02-24-2016, 05:35 PM
    jk
    Re: Employee Discount Violation
    You may feel it is minor but it sounds like if it was intentional it was criminal none the less. Employee theft is a huge problem for merchants and most take even small value theft as a serious Isssue.

    Whether they will seek criminal charges is completely up to them and whether the prosecutor is willing to file the charges.
  • 02-24-2016, 07:48 PM
    fasteddie911
    Re: Employee Discount Violation
    Appreciate your thoughts. I'm just wondering if there's even a case as they may be able to show what happened using documentation, but how can they prove intent? If it was a mistake on my part, partially due to not understanding vague rules, does that mean anything legally? Should I ask my employer this or keep my mouth shut and wait to see? If I get terminated, would criminal charges come immediately or could they take months?
  • 02-24-2016, 07:53 PM
    jk
    Re: Employee Discount Violation
    Given I have no idea what you actually did I cannot even suggest how they can prove anything.

    Along with that I don't know what specific laws are involved. Many misdemeanor crimes have up to a 1 year statute of limitations. That means the prosecutor has up to 1 year from the date of the incident to actually file charges. Generally it is much quicker than that but it could take that long.
  • 02-25-2016, 09:27 AM
    DeputyDog
    Re: Employee Discount Violation
    If all is as you say it is, I would be very surprised if this led to criminal charges. You might very well lose your job, however.
  • 02-25-2016, 03:52 PM
    Who'sThatGuy
    Re: Employee Discount Violation
    Quote:

    Quoting fasteddie911
    View Post
    Based over a long time period

    You're saying this happened long ago, or this has happened multiple times over a long time period?

    Quote:

    Quoting fasteddie911
    View Post
    "double dipped" on the discount,

    You walked away with money or a product?

    Quote:

    Quoting fasteddie911
    View Post
    but now I can see what went wrong.

    Did someone explain something to you, or you just realize now what you have been doing wrong?
  • 02-26-2016, 07:49 AM
    fasteddie911
    Re: Employee Discount Violation
    This happened a few months ago and only once. Our company has multiple ways to get employee discounts (cards, sales, etc.), and instead of getting 50% off an item once as an employee discount, I ended up getting an item with 50% applied twice (so at 25% of the original price), so in essence walking away some savings and an item to show for it. It's a bit confusing how it happened and it occurred over a period of a few months due to making multiple purchases/returns with my employee discount, thus leading me to lose track of how and when the discount was applied on previous purchases/returns. Someone from LP brought it to my attention and once they show me the transactions on paper and explained it, I could see what I did wrong. It's unfortunate because they were running a promotion at that time for regular customers where they could essentially get the same item for the price I eventually ended up paying for it, so it would have been fine if I had purchased the item as a regular customer instead of an employee.
  • 02-26-2016, 08:41 AM
    Who'sThatGuy
    Re: Employee Discount Violation
    For LP to even bring this into light, we must be talking about a large dollar figure? So it is up to the policy of the store and for them to decide if they want to terminate you and file a police report on the matter.
  • 02-26-2016, 09:03 AM
    fasteddie911
    Re: Employee Discount Violation
    Just wanted to add that I've been wondering if what I did was illegal, seems like a grey area. Maybe they could claim loss of profits, but I know for sure that a savvy non-employee shopper could have purchased the same item for the same price that I did, legally within the law and company policies, using promotions and discounts. Moreover, the contract I signed doesn't explicitly state that what I did was wrong, while I understand the company's stance, the language for employee discounts are vague and basically says not to abuse it. So while I can see how they may terminate me (which I can understand), I'm wondering if they have enough to prosecute with.
  • 02-26-2016, 09:48 AM
    Mr. Knowitall
    Re: Employee Discount Violation
    You have admitted to manipulating the system to get a double discount, despite knowing that you were only entitled to a single discount. We have no reason to believe that the store, police and prosecutor would not regard that as theft.
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