Accused of Wrongly Taking Items from a School After Resigning

[RechaeT]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Georgia

Hello,

I recently resigned from my job as a Pre-Kindergarten teacher. Last Saturday I went into the building to remove all the items that were mine including the pictures I took of the children. I figured since I took those pictures at my expense then they are mine. I was given the permission from the supervisor that I could enter the building on the weekend because the facility was open with children in it. I did not tell the supervisor that I will be removing all my things, but I did tell her that I will be picking up the can goods that the students collected for a can drive for the needy to give to a local food bank. 2 days later I turned in my letter of resignation and all other paper work. I thought that maybe I was going to move on with my life until the director of the facility E-mailed me stating that I took items from the classroom. I told her I took all the items that were mine. She then told me that the pictures of the children and the can goods weren't mine why did I take them. I told her those pictures were taken out of my expense so they are mine and the can goods weren't hers nor mine, but the students. I told her that the can goods will be given to the local shelter and I will E-mail you the donation slip. That is when I received an email stating that she will withhold my payroll if I do not meet with her. I found that to be crazy because withholding an employee check for any reason is against the law in ALL 50 states. When I told her that, she said that she can not release the payroll because I went into her building without permission and removed items without her permission.

I decided to go to the meeting and bring in a witness being that I felt like she was going into legal matters. I am not sure why I had to meet with her because I did what I had to do and resigned. I think she just wanted to meet with me because she felt bad that I did not tell her I was removing all my items from the classroom and that now she will have to start paying for items out of pocket to replace the items the I spent money on to replace in the classroom. In the meeting she told me that I was practicing theft by taken because although the building was open, that particular part of the building was closed due to the fact that the grade I teach is not open on weekends. How can that be possible when the building was open, I was given permission by the supervisor, and at the time I was still an employee so I was allowed to be anywhere on the grounds when I took my things down? She then said that she would call an attorney on my witness for showing up. How would all this become a case?

I am not sure was she speaking about legal matters she has any knowledge of or will this actually happen.

I emailed the donation slip from the shelter and told her I do not want any other communication with her.

My dad is a retired law enforcer and he says that it is not a case.

Is this case? I need to know if I should get an attorney?

[budwad]

I agree with your dad and I would wait to see what happens. Calling an attorney about your witness sounds meaningless. If she wanted to say that the witness was trespassing she should have told that person to leave and then called the police.

[Highwayman]

It depends on the prosecutor. Your father cannot predict what will happen.

Here's what you do, keep all documentation including the supervisor's name who gave you the permission.

IF you get contacted by the police politely decline to speak with them unless you have an attorney present. THEN you can go out and retain legal counsel.

[eerelations]

The photos may not be your property even if you took them at your own expense. If they were for some sort of school-related purpose then the photos belong to the school. Paying for them yourself does not make them your property. (And in case you ask, it's perfectly legal for employers to require employees to pay for some work-related items out of their own pockets. And in Georgia, employers are not legally required to reimburse employees for said out-of-pocket expenses.)

The canned (are you sure you were a teacher?) goods were never yours, they belonged to the school and/or the students. Whether they belonged to the school or the students, they were never yours.

So you definitely stole items out of the classroom. Definitely the canned goods and possibly also the photos. And just because you donated the canned goods doesn't mean law enforcement won't press theft charges against you. They can, and they might.

Your behaviour in all this is going to dog your career for decades.

[cbg]

withholding an employee check for any reason is against the law in ALL 50 states.

This is not true as stated. There is, in fact, one state (although it is not Georgia) where the law expressly gives the employer the right to withhold the final check until the employee has returned everything belonging to the employer. Other states, and Georgia IS one of these, have no laws regarding the timing of final checks.

[RechaeT]

I told them during my employment that I will be responsible for taking the can goods to the food bank and they all agreed upon it.

I told them during my employment that I will be responsible for taking the canned goods to the food bank and they all agreed upon it.

the photos was also not school property.

I am elgible to be reimbursed for training that I went to. Per the state that I work for, require that employers fund teachers for all training. II was given one paycheck to a training, and it bounced twice. I am also to be reimbursed for materials I brought because it states this in the employee handbook

[eerelations]

I told them during my employment that I will be responsible for taking the can goods to the food bank and they all agreed upon it.

I told them during my employment that I will be responsible for taking the canned goods to the food bank and they all agreed upon it.

the photos was also not school property.

I was to be reimbursed for training that I went to. Per the state that I work for, require that employers fund teachers for all training. II was given one paycheck to a training, and it bounced twice. I am also to be reimbursed for materials I brought because it states this in the employee handbook

Are you sure you were a teacher? Really?

Of course you were responsible for taking the canned goods to a food bank - while you were employed by the school. As soon as you quit, all work-related responsibilities (including ferrying stuff around to food banks) ended.

As to whether or not the photos were school property - why did you take photos of the children?

Who said anything about training cost reimbursement? How did that suddenly come into play in this thread?

Regarding what the employee handbook says, 99% of employers are not legally bound by the verbiage in their employee handbooks. If you believe that your former employer belongs to that 1% of employers that are bound by their employee handbooks, then you need to take said handbook to be reviewed thoroughly by an attorney who specializes in contract law.

[Highwayman]

Are you sure you were a teacher? Really?

If she is I hope she doesn't teach spelling and grammar.

[eerelations]

If she is I hope she doesn't teach spelling and grammar.

Even if she doesn't, shouldn't teachers be expected to possess at least some basic knowledge of spelling and grammar?

[qwaspolk69]

I told them during my employment that I will be responsible for taking the can goods to the food bank and they all agreed upon it.

I told them during my employment that I will be responsible for taking the canned goods to the food bank and they all agreed upon it.

the photos was also not school property.

I am elgible to be reimbursed for training that I went to. Per the state that I work for, require that employers fund teachers for all training. II was given one paycheck to a training, and it bounced twice. I am also to be reimbursed for materials I brought because it states this in the employee handbook

I hope you weren't an English teacher...

Why do you want photos of the kids anyway? At my daughter's daycare they take pictures of all the kids for the newsletters or to put up on the wall. That doesn't give any individual worker the right to keep them. I would be weirded out if my kid's teacher wanted to keep pictures of my daughter and her classmates. A class photo with you in it is different.

Wait until there's actually a legal issue to deal with. Don't talk to the police.