Damage to property while at work

[jerzigurl77]

What is the name of your state? NJ

My husband works night shift at a company in NJ. Over the past few months, several cars (including his) has been damaged. Slashed tires, flattened tires, cars being "keyed", sugar being put into gas tanks, etc... The employees know who is doing this - it's another employee - but have no concrete proof to file charges. The employer has security cameras in the parking lot where the vehicles are located. Each time there is an incident, the supervisor reviews the tapes and claims they saw nothing happening to the car. They say that the cameras are motion sensored and that if a tree moves, the camera will focus on the tree. Mostly, when the tapes are reviewed, they say the camera focused in on the moving trees or that they scanned the tape and saw no one near the vehicle in question.

Is there anything that can be done about this? We have tried, on several occasions, to even call the corporate facility of this company and they just refer us back to the plant site. I would hope there was some way to make this company a little more resposible for what happens on their property. The damages being done to these vehicles is becoming costly. So far, this has happened on 5 different occasions.

 

[Beth3]

No, there is no way to force the employer to step up security or handle the situation more aggressively. They are not liable for the vehicles or for the vandalism either. I can think of no reason why they wouldn't be taking the matter seriously though and telling the truth about what they're seeing on the security tapes. I'm sure they know this kind of thing will result in turnover of some good employees if it continues long enough.

All of those who have had their cars damaged can (and should) file police reports regarding the incidents and may certainly tell the police who you suspect. You don't need proof of the perpetrator to file a report over the incidents. When my employers have had vandalism problems, the police have been quite cooperative in making frequent drive-throughs of the parking lot and keeping an eye on things.