Taking Money Left at a Self-Service Register

An employee was leaving a store when she heard the self-checkout register repeating, "Please take your change". She looked and saw $20 in the bill dispenser. There were no customers around, so she took the money.

The next day her employer called her in and asked about the money. Apparently the customer realized that they had forgotten their change and came back for it, and the store checked the video. The employee returned the money, and said she didn't know it was against the rules to take it. Her employer fired her, even though it had never told her about a policy for change left by a customer.

Should she have been fired for taking the change? Could she have been criminally prosecuted?

There is no reason why an employer could not fire her, for cause, for taking the change. She knew that the money wasn't hers.

Charges would be unlikely under those facts, but under a typical larceny statute they would be possible.