wrongfully accused of stealing.

[proulx]

What is the name of your state? I live in Ontario Canada.


For the past several months, money has been missing from out of our till (I work at a small coffee shop) and yesterday I was taken aside and informed that I was being directly looked at for the missing of 10,000-15000 dollars. I never took any money! But, apparently money has only been missing on days that I have worked, but when I went away on holiday, no money went missing. I don't know who could have taken the money, because there are only four of us working there. But it sure wasnt me. I am poor as ever, I have nothing in my house that is worth over $300, I am 18 and live on my own, in debt because I don't make enough money to pay all my bills, and there is about $5 in my bank account. Where is this money if I apparently have it? Now, my boss fired me today. And yesterday said that he has almost 100% proof that I took it, and will do anything it takes to put me behind bars if I don't fess up.

This is what they wrote on the termination of employment paper
"The cash in drawer has been short many times during your work shifts by significant amounts. In particular, in the last two weeks the cash in drawer was short by a total of $985. On Thursday April 7, correct amount of cash was in the cash drawer at 4pm when counted by *boss*, but at 6:15pm (I left at 5:30) when *boss* checked the balance, the cash in drawer was short by $455. (ie. the money disappeared from the cash register between 4pm and 6pm, when you were the only staff at work) When you were asked for an explanation you offered none (OF COURSE I DIDN'T, I DONT HAVE ONE!) This indicates a lack of concern by you for the business and has made you an untrustworthy member of staff. Furthermore, your lack of concern has infuriated other members of staff who are distraught over the cash shortages. This has resulted in poor morale in the store."

What am I to do?

 

[Beth3]

Your boss firing you on suspicion of stealing is not unlawful, even if he is grossly mistaken.

What you should do is file for unemployment benefits right away. If your boss challenges your eligibility, the burden will be on him to show the proof to the State he claims to have that you are the culprit. I expect he has greatly overstated the issue because if he had that degree of proof that you are the thief, I can't imagine he wouldn't have turned it over to the police and file criminal charges. That's a lot of money to go missing from the till.

Next, you need to start looking for another job. If you find you are having a problem doing that because the boss is giving you a bad reference, then you may want to talk to a lawyer. If the boss were to tell prospective employers who contacted him that you are a thief and he doesn't have absolute proof of that, you may have a civil claim to pursue against him for slander.

P.S. I just noticed you are in Canada. This site deals with U.S. laws only so my answer above may not be applicable to Canada.

 

[proulx]

i just added some more information.

 

[Beth3]

But you're still in Canada. All anyone here can tell you is that nothing you describe, while extremely unfortunate, would be unlawful in the U.S.

 

[cbg]

Employment law in the US and Canada is NOT the same. It doesn't matter how much information you add, none of the regular posters here knows Canadian employment law. There is ONE poster, who posts only occasionally, who has any knowledge of Canadian law. If she comes by, I'm sure she'll give you what information she has. Until then, I can only suggest that you seek legal assistance.