My wife was recently fired from her job as a pharmacy clerk for theft. The store had noticed that her discount card had been used by family members, and used this as grounds to call her into an interrogation by a loss prevention officer. While the discount card was supposed to be used by only by immediate family members, my parents had used the card while with us (i.e., we were in the line with them and they offered to pay on their credit card.)
The loss prevention officer accused her of taking cash from the register, removing merchandise from the store, and giving away her employee discount to "make friends." He also said to her "I know you are from country X. Do you think it is OK to steal there? etc " I'm not sure why her nationality has relevance here.
Being a recent immigrant she was very initimidated and humiliated by this, and told him "if I stole anything from the store, tell me what it was and I'll pay it back". She also said that one time she took some bottled water on her 10 minute break, intended to pay when the line was shorter and forgot. Although she does not read or write English, he made her sign a confession and promissary note for $100. She was then terminated without any further discussion.
She loved her job and the store, and was a very good employee. Although she only earned minimum wage, she would have liked to stay there as a career. She had made her first friends in the US in that store, and even invited everyone to her birthday party (part of the charges on her discount card). Now she is totaly distraught about her treatment. To add insult to injury, we now received a letter from the stores lawyer demanding an additional $300 in civil recovery.
I am outraged about what happened and would appreciate any advice on how to deal with this. Thank You.

