mark2123
12th October 2005, 20:49
Hi,
I run a franchise business and had what I believed to be good reason to dismiss an employee after only 2 weeks work when I believed they were ripping me off.
I sent them the attached letter and cancelled their pay-cheque for that two weeks.
They phoned me today saying that if I didn't pay them their wage, they would sue me for the money, make me pay the costs and write to the local newspaper rubbishing my business.
I telephoned them back and I offered to pay them the money for the sake of harmony - I was very calm and decent when I spoke to them but they said that the conversation was being recorded, that their son was a solicitor and he should be claiming expenses from me for advising him. He also told me he used to be in the SAS.
I said I would bring the cheque around - he went on about a few more things and told me that it was illegal for a cheque to be cancelled and that if I thought he was commiting a criminal act, I should get him arrested.
I agreed to post him a cheque and he phoned me back saying that on advice from his son, he wanted cash.
Can somebody please tell me what my rights are - do I have to pay him, can he sue me and where do I stand with my letter? I have many people who didn't see him at the places he should have been visiting on his rounds and the auditable evidence suggests that he was lying to and I believed was sufficient to dismiss him. He only worked 2 weeks and I didn't get around to giving him a written contract.
Any advice before Monday would be much appreciated.
The letter is in bold below:
Dear xxx,
This week you worked for 2 days following the public holiday and the results of your work gave me cause to question them. Your first week saw you average 22 visits per day, bringing in around £130 each day. This week, you filled out 40 cards each day, meaning that you would be paid 50p more per hour for those days as per the agreement, but bringing in only £80 per day.
I looked extensively through the cards and was astounded at how many cards had £0 or £1 on them, yet in the past, they had all been very good performers. I could not see how you could manage to double your visits from one week to the next and almost half the money you brought in.
I carried out an investigation. The next day (Thurs 1st Sept) I asked our other driver to visit all the boxes that you had claimed had sold 0 or 1 packets and was amazed to find that they had all sold lots more, one had even sold 16 packets when the day before, you had said none on the card. This meant that according to you, none had sold in the previous week then amazingly, 16 sold in 1 day. Nearly all the cards that our driver visited had good sales and all this in 1 day?
Secondly, we began speaking to the staff at the places that you claim had sold none and after asking around, no-one had said that they had seen you.
xxx said that you made a big thing about honesty when he met you and we trusted you by giving you the job. I put it to you that you have committed the offence of ‘Attempting to obtain property by deception’ (please see attached law) in that you say that you serviced 40 each day in order that we pay you £6.50 per hour instead of £6. There is also a further offence of false accounting.
What you have done is rip us off by lying about what you have been doing and thus costing us income because it is apparent that you have not made many visits in the first place.
I have cancelled your wage cheque because of gross misconduct and have enough evidence to report this to the police. People are willing to make statements and the figures on the cards all speak for themselves.
I do not want you working for us and trust that you accept that you will not be getting paid for the losses we have incurred by you not doing your job properly. If you accept this situation, I will not bring the matter to the attention of the police and we can all go about our business. It’s up to you whether you wish to dispute this and if so, we can let the police decide.
xxx
I run a franchise business and had what I believed to be good reason to dismiss an employee after only 2 weeks work when I believed they were ripping me off.
I sent them the attached letter and cancelled their pay-cheque for that two weeks.
They phoned me today saying that if I didn't pay them their wage, they would sue me for the money, make me pay the costs and write to the local newspaper rubbishing my business.
I telephoned them back and I offered to pay them the money for the sake of harmony - I was very calm and decent when I spoke to them but they said that the conversation was being recorded, that their son was a solicitor and he should be claiming expenses from me for advising him. He also told me he used to be in the SAS.
I said I would bring the cheque around - he went on about a few more things and told me that it was illegal for a cheque to be cancelled and that if I thought he was commiting a criminal act, I should get him arrested.
I agreed to post him a cheque and he phoned me back saying that on advice from his son, he wanted cash.
Can somebody please tell me what my rights are - do I have to pay him, can he sue me and where do I stand with my letter? I have many people who didn't see him at the places he should have been visiting on his rounds and the auditable evidence suggests that he was lying to and I believed was sufficient to dismiss him. He only worked 2 weeks and I didn't get around to giving him a written contract.
Any advice before Monday would be much appreciated.
The letter is in bold below:
Dear xxx,
This week you worked for 2 days following the public holiday and the results of your work gave me cause to question them. Your first week saw you average 22 visits per day, bringing in around £130 each day. This week, you filled out 40 cards each day, meaning that you would be paid 50p more per hour for those days as per the agreement, but bringing in only £80 per day.
I looked extensively through the cards and was astounded at how many cards had £0 or £1 on them, yet in the past, they had all been very good performers. I could not see how you could manage to double your visits from one week to the next and almost half the money you brought in.
I carried out an investigation. The next day (Thurs 1st Sept) I asked our other driver to visit all the boxes that you had claimed had sold 0 or 1 packets and was amazed to find that they had all sold lots more, one had even sold 16 packets when the day before, you had said none on the card. This meant that according to you, none had sold in the previous week then amazingly, 16 sold in 1 day. Nearly all the cards that our driver visited had good sales and all this in 1 day?
Secondly, we began speaking to the staff at the places that you claim had sold none and after asking around, no-one had said that they had seen you.
xxx said that you made a big thing about honesty when he met you and we trusted you by giving you the job. I put it to you that you have committed the offence of ‘Attempting to obtain property by deception’ (please see attached law) in that you say that you serviced 40 each day in order that we pay you £6.50 per hour instead of £6. There is also a further offence of false accounting.
What you have done is rip us off by lying about what you have been doing and thus costing us income because it is apparent that you have not made many visits in the first place.
I have cancelled your wage cheque because of gross misconduct and have enough evidence to report this to the police. People are willing to make statements and the figures on the cards all speak for themselves.
I do not want you working for us and trust that you accept that you will not be getting paid for the losses we have incurred by you not doing your job properly. If you accept this situation, I will not bring the matter to the attention of the police and we can all go about our business. It’s up to you whether you wish to dispute this and if so, we can let the police decide.
xxx