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Former employee & company cell phone use

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lauriespins

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Colorado

(Note: I've posted this same message on the Employment Law forum.)

I'm a partner in a small medical practice. Our office manager resigned unexpectedly three months ago, by faxing us a resignation letter. My partner attempted to contact her several times requesting she return her company-provided cell phone. She finally responded indicating she'd "lost" it. We had the cell provider inactivate the phone number (because we wanted to be able to use it again at a later date.)

We just received December's cell phone bill (for all the phones our office uses). This former employee has racked up $750 in charges on her allegedly "lost" company cell phone, for the month of December. We contacted the cellphone provider (Verizon) who told us that after 90 days, the inactivated number is automatically reinstated. What?? It'd have been nice for them to let us know this at the time we inactivated the number...but that's another issue.

Anyway - it would appear that this former employee (1) did not "lose" the phone, and (2) somehow became aware that the phone number was reinstated, either accidentally or intentionally. We examined the itemized call history for December, and found that the calls were primarily to her mother in Oregon, her father in Toronto, and her boyfriend's workplace. My partner was able to speak to the former employee about the charges, and she claims they aren't hers.

Verizon tells us that in order to cut off the service to this phone, we must now pay a $175 early termination charge, plus pay the $750 in airtime charges to prevent all our service from being cut off. We went ahead and did this, since we pretty much had no choice.

What recourse do we have against this former employee? Would her use of the phone constitute a criminal charge, perhaps for theft of company property? How would we proceed against her to recover these funds?

Any advice is most appreciated!
Laurie
 


garrula lingua

Senior Member
Make a police report immediately. This is a theft: embezzlement.
In the course of his investigation, the assigned Detective will call her.

A call from a cop following up on a complaint frequently scares honesty back into theives such as she. Hopefully, she'll call you & beg you to take the $.

You also have the right to sue her in small claims court. Personally, I'd try to file criminal charges against her - restitution ordered by a criminal court is not usu dischargable in bankruptcy & is easy to collect (pmt is usu a condition of probation).
 

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