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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2016
    Posts
    1

    Default Fired for Taking Money Left at a Self-Checkout Register

    My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: -Tennessee

    I worked for walmart about almost 3 years. Well during this year I fell pregnancy and worked til my due date almost. I had maternity leave and during that time i made a decision that lead to my firing I guess you can say.

    As you most know about self check outs well there was a $20.00 left so I took it. Yes I knew I was doing wrong and can't justify what I did was right as I was just keeping it for gas money to get to doctors appointment and food for the table that night. As a newly single mother of two now. So I kept the money. Well I came back to work in October, now in November I got fired today for my actions. And have to pay the company back the 20.00$ But my question is can they fire me when I was off the clock (maternity leave).? Does anyone have the handbook for walmart 2014? I know I probably won't get unemployment but is there a chance I could if I explained the situation.? Please help. I know what I did was wrong I understand that I just need some decent advice on this and guidance of the situation.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Posts
    8,238

    Default Re: Got Fired from Walmart

    You stole money from the store. The employer certainly may fire you for that whether you were on the clock or not. Indeed, the employer may fire you for any reason except for a few reasons prohibited by law. The prohibited reasons include firing you because:
    • of your race, color, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, or genetic test information under federal law (some states/localities add a few more categories like sexual orientation);
    • you make certain kinds of reports about the employer to the government or in limited circumstances to specified persons in the employing company itself (known as whistle-blower protection laws);
    • you participate in union organizing activities;
    • you use a right or benefit the law guarantees you (e.g. using leave under FMLA);
    • you filed a bankruptcy petition;
    • your pay was garnished by a single creditor; and
    • you took time off work to attend jury duty (in most states).

    The exact list of prohibited reasons will vary by state but there is no state that prohibits an employer from firing you because you committed theft from the employer or a customer of the employer. Doesn’t matter if you were working at the time or not.

    In most instances an employee handbook is not a contract between the employer and the employee so it doesn’t generally give you any enforceable rights. Moreover, I can pretty well guarantee that nothing in the handbook would prevent the company from firing you over this.

    In addition to firing you, the company could also file a criminal complaint to prosecute you for theft. If the company does not do that then consider yourself lucky on that since a criminal record for theft would make finding another job even harder than it will be already.

    You may as well apply for unemployment benefits and see what happens. While it is likely that you will get rejected if the employer convinces the unemployment comp agency that you stole from the store it can't hurt to try and there might be some chance the employer won’t contest it. But don’t get high hopes on it either.

    I suggest that as soon as possible you begin the process to seek child support from the father. He is obligated to help you support the baby and now particularly with you unemployed you’ll need the help. You can also check out whatever government aid you may be entitled to receive until you can get a new job.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: Got Fired from Walmart

    I truly do not understand where so many people get the idea that as long as they commit their criminal acts against their employer on their own time, the law will not allow them to be punished for it.

    Of course they can fire you. On the clock, off the clock, on maternity leave, whatever. You stole from them, you can be fired. Regardless of what it says in the 2014 handbook or not. Unless what it says is, "Thou shalt not be fired for stealing as long as you did it on your own time" AND the handbook is shown to be a contract (which few of them are) OR if the handbook guarantees progressive discipline no matter what the case (I add this for the purists -over 35 years in HR and I've yet to see one that does - and for precisely this reason) the handbook is not going to help you one whit.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    1,142

    Default Re: Got Fired from Walmart

    And based upon how long it has been since you last worked, they first have to determine if there is a monetary unemployment claim to file for at this time. When you file the claim, this is the first thing they determine. It is based on the past five quarters of wages, which means that if you file now, they'll be going back to see if you have a claim based on quarters of wages starting in July of 2015 through June of 2016, or Sept. of 2016. Each time a quarter passes, you drop a quarter of wages, so it is not based on how long you have worked in your whole life. The max in TN that you could draw is $275 a week for 26 weeks. You must be able, available, and fully released by your doctor to draw the claim if it is approved. So if you are still on maternity leave, have not been released by the doctor to return to work, you probably cannot receive benefits right now even if you were to qualify for them. But it is important that you file the claim for unemployment benefits immediately. There's no penalty for filing, no downside, and in your state, filing is a requirement for some other programs you may qualify for.

    You file the claim, and if there are enough wages to set up a claim, then you are given a decision within the next few weeks about whether or not your claim is approved, in other words, whether you are out of work through no fault of your own. Stealing from your employer, on camera, probably, admittedly doing it, no less, is probably going to be considered gross misconduct, which means it was something you should have known was wrong to do, even if you hadn't had any previous problems or warnings or hadn't read it in the handbook. And they can legally fire you, at will, for just about anything. If they can show they had a valid work related gross misconduct reason to terminate you, you will not be approved for unemployment benefits.

    Although unemployment law does specify that to keep you from drawing unemployment benefits, the misconduct has to be work related, stealing from your place of work while you on maternity leave, and weren't technically on the clock working for them is probably still going to be considered work related misconduct. If you had robbed a bank across town while on maternity leave, and Wal-mart fired you for that, and you were waiting to stand trial so were out and able and available for work, and were now released by your doctor, you might be able to draw unemployment benefits. It wasn't misconduct related to your work. But since the actual theft was against your employer that you were on leave from, I don't think they will think that's too far afield. Wal-mart unemployment is usually handled by a contracting service that will fight every single claim, so don't expect them not to show up to fight this claim.

    But go on and file a claim for unemployment, quickly, as you will lose quarters of wages when the quarter changes again. You might as well. Also, it is a requirement in this state that before you qualify for any other form of real needs based assistance, you must file for unemployment first and have them determine whether or not you would qualify for unemployment. This will affect your eligibility for other assistance programs.

    But since unemployment benefits are not needs based, do not expect to get any points for the whole, "Boo hoo hoo, I was only trying to get a little gas money to get me to my doctors appointments" is going to carry ANY weight with them. Unemployment insurance doesn't care if your husband is making $600,000 a year, or if you are a trust fund baby or have just hit the lottery and are a millionaire many times over. There are no income questions. You just must be out of work through no fault of your own, and that's what they will be trying to determine.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Posts
    1,360

    Default Re: Got Fired from Walmart

    Quote Quoting comment/ator
    View Post
    Wal-mart unemployment is usually handled by a contracting service that will fight every single claim, so don't expect them not to show up to fight this claim.
    I have really fresh information on this, and I think the answer is they don't or if they do, they aren't very good. The neighbor kid was late 18 times and got fired. I had him use the "just say fired, don't take the call" technique. He's collecting UI right now, and as of the Nov 10 deadline, a timely appeal was not filed.

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