ee theft
amrcexecdir
1 Post
We are possibly dealing with an employee who is using a master key to access apartments in a senior community and stealing money & personal items. Since there is no way short of catching someone, we are unsure as how to proceed. My only thought is to re-key the building, and severely limit access by installing an electronic key box that would track thekeys usage. We do not know how to proceed to try to determine who could be the culprit.
Comments
Once the keys are out of your hands, there's always a possibility of duplication.
As you have no doubt learned in research products to cure this problem, the more you want to avoid duplication and/or auditing capabilty, the more expensive the system gets. Having people check keys in and out will definitely help but, as above, once the cat's out of the bag, duplication is a possibility. Have you considered security cameras in the halls? You could sell that to tenants and employees alike as a security measure.
{While I think cameras can be a good security feature, make sure you look into the liability of having them and promoting them to your tenants. In reality by doing so, the property owner might be picking up more liability than that of an employee stealing. Because if one fails to work and there is a crime committed, the property owner might be more liable because of the "security".
Years ago now, there was a court case in Texas regarding apartment "security gates" and the fact that by calling them that, the property owner was implying more security than there actually was. When the gates failed to protect a tenant, the tenant sued and won...hence the name change to "limited access gates" on most TX apartment complexes.}
How big of a complex is it? How many employees have access to the keys? How do you track who is in apartments and what they are doing? We have logs where any employee going into an apartment have to sign in and out when they get a key. I am suspecting that either (1) they aren't doing so and are going into apartments that are not in need of service or (2) stealing while servicing apartments.
How often is management walking the property when employees are in apartments? Does anyone do spot checks to make sure employees are in the apartments that they say they are? Do the employees know someone is watching? We have had employees sleeping in apartments, but as far as I know never stealing property mostly because our management is walking the property quite a bit.
This is a HUGE issue for you. Because tenants will start to talk to each other (and possibly the media) and you can have a PR nightmare on your hands. And you could get into the situation where you have tenants who have not had anything stolen lying about it for insurance purposes and with a history on the complex, it will be harder to prove the employees didn't steal anything.
You might have to sit the whole group of employees down, let them know that there have been complaints and if complaints continue, immediate termination based on any suspiscion will happen. Luckily in employment law, there is nothing that says the complaint must be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.
I would have to agree that the complex needs some type of camera surveillance or police patrols. I think you would need to check state law- most law enforcement agencies encourage property owners to have some sort of set-up so that in the event of a crime- they have something to use to help apprehend the thief. I think that you should check with a real estate attorney as well as law- enforcement- they may have some cost effective-,legal ,and minimal liability suggestions for the property owner and tenants to help you with your situation.
Angie
HR Manager
While law enforcement definitely encourages it, unfortunately courts and juries have discouraged it, at least in the few cities we have owned apartments in. By doing/having certain things, you can assume much more liability than you ever imagined. While the law may not blatantly say you have that much liability, a court/jury is the one that it comes down to in the end.
I could just be jaded (for reasons I can't put into writing at this time -- I wish I could because I have a very very applicable example) but one of our insurance company's corporate attornies told of a case in San Antonio where the property owner was held liable for a "hit". A man with 6 children lived on property. The shooter came onto the property and killed him point blank and got away. Even the police agreed it was an organized "hit" rather than a random crime. And the property owner/management company lost a lawsuit in the tune of $10M+. Of course, they are appealing it, but what the jury sees is these poor children and this "wealthy" property owner with a large insurance policy who should have kept the property more "secure". Add to that any promise of 'security' (cameras/gates/etc) and the property owner can very rarely win (or only after a long drawn out court battle) even if they were not responsible and even if they have leases/waivers/agreements in writing. Because the jury sees the victim and tends to empathize with them.
We do have off duty police patrols. It is my understanding that our liability on that is lessened, because no reasonable person can expect the patrol to be at every location on the property at once. But they can expect cameras/gates/etc to work 99.9% of the time.