employee allegedly stolen item

[stuart seller]

A client of mine has alleged that a phone has been stolen whilst my employee was in his property. It isnt of great value, perhaps £100, but the client says that when he left it was there and when the new tenants arrived at the end of the work he was carrying out, it was gone. The employee was a new employee and only worked for us for a few days. He went awol today so I guess he is no longer working for us.

Who would be liable in this situation? We cannot contact the employee to hear his side of the story, and the client is now saying that he will get the police involved. I am not worried about trying to retain the client as obviously there is no chance of that now, but I 'm not sure of the legal position on this matter. It all seems like hearsay to me.

 

[Zeno]

I'm sorry but I'm not 100% clear regarding the situation - I assume your client is a landlord and your employee was a tradesman?

Did anyone else have access to the property?

 

[stuart seller]

That's it yeah. I'm not sure if anyone else had access to the property. I would imagine though he turned up to do the work, the landlord left, then at the end the new tenants arrived. After this time the landlord probably let the tenant know where the phone was but they couldn't find it, so the landlord reckons the tradesman stole it.

 

[MartCactus]

This might be helpful...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicarious_liability_in_English_law#Theft

If I was victim of a theft I'd report it to the police as a first step in any case. From there they then have option to sue you as employer (see above link) or claim on insurance.

Considering that the employee has now gone awol, do you think it is likely that he did commit the theft? In your situation I would ask that the client report the theft (so the police can investigate) and then say that you may compensate them based on the results of their investigation (they might determine that someone else was responsible).

 

[Zeno]

That's it yeah. I'm not sure if anyone else had access to the property. I would imagine though he turned up to do the work, the landlord left, then at the end the new tenants arrived. After this time the landlord probably let the tenant know where the phone was but they couldn't find it, so the landlord reckons the tradesman stole it.

Entirely irrelevant but is a land line phone worth £100? It would have to be some fancy cordless model and it would be an odd sort of landlord that puts one of these in a rental property.

Moving on though, I can't see that there is enough evidence to do anything. I would think it likely that your client may have already contacted the police purely for a reference number for insurance purposes though.I highly doubt they will actively investigate it but there might be a phonecall.

It might come down to your insurance but what they will make of it is anyones guess.

 

[stuart seller]

I think the suggestion that I let the client report the theft would be the best one. I don't think he did steal it, he gave some poor excuse that he had to leave the country as his grandmother was ill and now we cant contact him, but up until then he seemed to be ok. I just don't think he liked the work as the pay wasn't too good.

Thanks for the replies.