Theft again! Help

System · May 2005

I last wrote about theft of a deposit at one of our restaurants. Now it seems one of our casino supervisors is stealing. The casinos give customers cards they swipe when they are at our casino to earn points that amount to cash. Cards can be swiped at 4 predetermined times daily (gives customers initiative to be in the casino during swipe times). The machine spits out a ticket with a point value and the casino attendant gives the customer cash for the point value. An ee came to the GM and told him that the ee had been approached by a supervisor who told the ee that she had created a fake customer card with a fake name and was swiping the card to earn points and taking the cash. Aside from this testimony, the card was created in March and has only been swiped when the supervisor is working,and quite frequently at that (we have the machine print-out that shows us everytime this card has been swiped for points), the sup. generally works alone during her shifts, no other ee's have heard of this "customer" (there are only 6 employees), the handwriting on the customer card looks like the handwriting of the sup., and there is no customer application for this card (customers fill out the application for the card). Do we have enough to terminate her employment? In the last two months she has probably taken at least $500.00. We do have a policy listing theft and falsification of Company promotional materials as a serious policy violation that may result in immediate termination. We have thought about presenting her with the facts and seeing what she says, we do not believe she is the type to crack and admit wrongdoing.

pork1 · May 2005

NEEDAHERO: It reads to me like your company has the information on which to base a termination. I fold, however, and pass to the Director of Security, who must be in the know and will have the legal authority all over this one. I question why the HR needs to be involved at this time at all? I would hope that I the HR would be given the information on which to base a defense of the company actions for canning this cheat. I would not do anything until the Director of Security has all of his/her ducks in a row. This situation needs to be cleaned up and all involved get ripped at the same time and hauled offfffff to the jail house. Let the Director of Security take the lead and you watch his actions to make sure the company is not being discrimnatory.

PORK

System · May 2005

Director of Security, I wish. I am the safety committee as well. Is this when I am advised to call in the police for an investigation?

Shadowfax · May 2005

What do you need to terminate? Isn't she an at will ee? If you are unsure of the facts, just let her go w/o rfeason. Stop obsessing about being absolutely right, you have enough to make any reasonable person pull the plug. Now pull it! I doubt that I would get police involved if this were my operation - seems sufficient to me with what you already have - but that's just a personal thought because of the amount involved etc. But, you need to come up with some way to prevent this from happening again.

System · May 2005

Good point about the real issue being preventing this from happening again. We are not at at-will state. We are the unique ones in Montana. The only time we are at-will is during a probationary period. We employ a probationary period of 6 months. This ee is past their probationary period.

szemcumo · May 2005

I'm thinking $500 is alot of money and there should be some criminal involvement. Also are you going to be able to find out how this card was created and see if there are any other ees with extra cards. A big concern should be changing how these cards are produced and who has assess to creating them. Are the cards collected when ees are termed and is there any way to alert you if a card is being used that shouldn't be? Good luck on this one.

HCCADC · May 2005

Is here any way that you could 'catch' this supervisor in the act? I might want to do that and then there wouldn't be any question of the stealing. (Although I think you have enough with what you do have)

System · May 2005

The ee is smart enough to not swipe the card when the manager is around. She swipes it when she is on-shift alone. We have the record of every time this "fake" customer card has been swiped. It is a very small casino with only one person working normally-labor issue. We have cameras, but the machine for swiping is set-up such that you cannot get a good view of it from any of the cameras. The customer cards are kept in a rollodex type thing. The ee on shift retrieves the customer card and it is swiped for points at the predetermined times of day. Again it is an incentive to get customers in the casino. They have to be there to get their card swiped. It is a very common promo in casinos. It is a perk for the customer that we store their card for them so they do not have to carry it around. We can watch the camera footage during the predetermined times (the only times cards can be swiped) and see if there are any customers in the casino when she does it. No customers, we can assume the card is not a customers's.

marc · May 2005

I take it your security system does not compete with the one we see on Vegas in the Montecito (sp?).

I would like to see this cheat caught and prosecuted. Can you reposition one of the cameras for a period of time long enough to catch the supervisor?

Also, do the supervisors ever swipe cards for the customers? Just thinking of "stories" you might hear when the arrest is made.

lukkieseven · May 2005

If this employee also keeps the card in the rolodex, then why don't you just remove it? Next time she/he tries to retreive it, voila!! it won't be there.

If the employee carries the card around, then, of course, this won't work.

HRGirl · May 2005

I was under the impression (ala TV) that all casinos had an eye in the sky watching EVERYTHING! If this is so, secure the video and see if that person is the one swiping the card. How is it that everyone can find a way to get over on a company? From embezzling to swiping promotional cards, I would NEVER think of some of the ways they do it. I guess I'm dumb...or too honest.

Theft again! Help

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