Trust Issues

Shelflife

Hypothectically speaking.

the thread about the court appearance got me thinking.

If an employee who handled cash and was in a position of trust. You find out that he is up in court on a theft/fraud charge and they are found guilty and recieve a suspended sentence.

Can an employer dismiss this person on the basis that they can no longer trust them?

tatli_lokma

this might be worth reading
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/unemployment_and_redundancy/dismissal/fair_grounds_for_dismissal.html

in particular the section on conduct or contravening the law. I would imagine, that a tribunal might have an issue with summary dismissal of a staff member in the situation outlined above when there is an alternative position you could move them to. If there was no alternative position, I think you might have grounds for dismissal if there is a clause in the contract which allows you to do so on security grounds. For eg if I need a police background check to get the job in the first place, now that I have the job I can't break the law and not expect it to prevent me from continuing on in the same position.

I suppse, the old 'fair and equitable' fuzzy line exists yet again and it would be a case by case thing and the terms of the contract and nature of the business would have a lot of bearing on how it is handled.

Perhaps some of our legal eagles might know better or of some cases to cite where this did happen and was upheld or ruled against?

0ph0rce0

People make mistakes all their lives, does it mean it will happen again, i think not, you would want to be some ****ty boss to sack someone for that.

oldyouth

0ph0rce0 wrote: »

People make mistakes all their lives, does it mean it will happen again, i think not, you would want to be some ****ty boss to sack someone for that.

You are joking? If an employee of mine was convicted of theft or fraud, he would be out the door. Plenty of honest people would deserve the job more

0ph0rce0

oldyouth wrote: »

You are joking? If an employee of mine was convicted of theft or fraud, he would be out the door. Plenty of honest people would deserve the job more

And they'd be seeing you court for their monies you'd be paying them.

Stupid attitude

oldyouth

0ph0rce0 wrote: »

And they'd be seeing you court for their monies you'd be paying them.

Stupid attitude

Naturally, I'd seek legal advice on how to proceed correctly, but the bottom line is that the employee would be gone ASAP. Why is a stupid attitude to continue to employ a criminal over a decent honest person?

Procrastastudy

Any half decently drafted (unlike this sentence) employment contract would have provisions in it for dealing with this sort of issue.

People do make mistakes, that's what Spent Convictions legislation is meant to deal with. Ireland is the only country in Europe not to have such legislation which is complete disgrace. However, someone being convicted while in your employ is a completely different scenario to someone doing something stupid years ago.

Mrs OBumble

0ph0rce0 wrote: »

People make mistakes all their lives, does it mean it will happen again, i think not, you would want to be some ****ty boss to sack someone for that.

Ahh, yes, past behaviour is the best predictor of future behaviour.