Probation period extended after I discovered a theft

[flixer]

Long time lurker, seldom poster, name changed for obvious reasons... I really need some hand holding tonight.

I took a finance role 3 months ago. As part of my role, I found out that a staff member took the company card while out on a post-run and made an unauthorised purchase, a gift to a leaving member of staff. This was only picked up when I saw the bank statements. It was a director who had given her the card.

I informed the manager discretely. However, my interaction with said member of staff specially when dealing with finance things became a little strained.

Today I had my probation meeting... and my probation was extended on basis on my interaction with her!

I don't even have words... Manager said he cannot have conflict within the team....

I think many are missing the point. It's OP's job to go through CC statement. I was in many roles like this where I had to find out/justify every spend on a CC statement, regardless of who used the card and how little the spend was. If I didn't justify every spend I would have been called into a meeting with the Head of Department as to why certain CC spends weren't justified.

She found an unauthorised spend and raised it. The management called it theft/steal.

Don’t worry happens all the time .

A lot of people don’t like working with someone who does things by the book . In my understanding it’s because they always feel like they are looking over their shoulder . There may be other ‘ rule bending ‘ going on in the work place , and the directors and staff probably don’t want someone who stands by the rules around .

It’s sad but true and clearly there is a dynamic here that we don’t u don’t know / understand between the work colleagues .

What’s happening to you isn’t nice , I would find a new job and leave at earliest opportunity .

OP hasnt had her probation extended because she reported a theft.

Firstly, she shouldnt have been reporting a theft. She should have been reporting an anomaly. The fact that she had clearly decided it was a theft before, then is probably causing an atmosphere.

From her first and subsequent posts, it's clear she believed it was theft before and manager commented. The manager did not confirm it was theft. They made the comment before an investigation. They spoke out of turn, but thats not conformation, yet op is taking that as proof ot was theft.

OP had her probation extended because of conflict with the person since then. OP has admitted there is and doesnt seem to really be denying that she is part of the problem.

It's normal to be flagging a inconsistency, and I don't think the manager was wrong to comment. It would make sense for them to say either "that's not authorised let me look into this" so the OP can highlight it and mark that line as done with a comment - "unauthorised-x dealing" or "oh I authorised that / that's fine" so the OP can highlight it as "authorised by x x/10/19"

What is this "atmosphere" though. Is it her doing where she feels watched, maybe unnecessarily by you. Or that unconsciously or otherwise, you're treating her with caution and like the thief you seem to believe she is. She might be picking up on that, and has said, "ever since she mentioned that transaction, I feel OP is watching me / demonstrates a lack of trust"

I think small things like just moving your handbag out the way when she comes in might unintentionally come across as pointed dig that she can't be trusted.

It doesn't sound like you've completely dropped the incident. As others have said, she may have had it authorised by another manager, after the event, or been disciplined appropriately. And that is none of your business.

Why is everyone assuming OP went around with a loudspeaker at work shouting 'theft! There's been a theft! We have a thief in the vicinity!'. She can write what she likes here, it doesn't mean she's been accusing anyone in real life.
She wrote in the OP that she discreetly raised the discrepancy. She did her job.

Is the person who used the word "steal" and the one who extended your probation the same one?

It would make sense for them to say either "that's not authorised let me look into this" so the OP can highlight it and mark that line as done with a comment - "unauthorised-x dealing" or "oh I authorised that / that's fine" so the OP can highlight it as "authorised by x x/10/19"

It really doesnt make sense.

A manager should not be commenting above 'thank you, I will look into it'. At that moment the manage could only see it appeared not to be authorised. So could not say that. And that's not what the manager said.

The OP even took the managers words as confirmation it was theft. A people manager shouldnt be passing public judgement.

The OP also has no reason to mark it as unauthorised. It can be marked as requiring further investigation and who she had escalated it to.

Again, assuming this woman is innocent. Would you like comments being said and or written in relationship to something you did, before investigation.

Ops job is hard. She has to look for these things and manage a working relationship with the same people. The only way to do that is to remain neutral at all times.

Op, you are skirting round the relationship issue. You say it was " strained" and you became more " cautious" round her, but focus heavily on she did wrong, she may have stolen etc.

They are extending your probabtion due to thr way you treated this woman afterwards, it's nothing to do with authority for the card use.

Clearly you don't need to discuss it on here, but if you wish to pass probabation, then the area of your interactions is what you need to address.

I’m just going to give you the legal position.

As you have worked there for less than 2 years, you have limited employment rights and can be fired for any reason as you don’t have access to the employment tribunal. You can’t claim for unfair dismissal unless it is in relation to a protected characteristic (in which case the 2 years service requirement is waived as this would be automatically unfair for a tribunal.)

Therefore even if this is theoretically unfair as you were just following your orders/handbook and have essentially been treated poorly as a result, your employer can safely fire you. Probation isn’t a legal requirement so they can extend it as they wish without penalty.

The exception to this would be if you claim that you are a whistleblower - under the circumstances I’m not sure if this would count, but you’d be able to take them to a tribunal if you have a case.

The thing is. This is very serious. They are considering terminating your contract over this. You keep posting it's about her use of the card, when it's absolutely nothing to do with that. It's your behaviour to her after you found it.

If you want to stay, this really does need to be your focus area. Keeping saying well I didn't call it theft and she misused the card shows either a lack of understanding of the issue, or a desire to have no personal responsibility in what your employer clearly sees as the main issue for you.

They were shocked and said something along the lines “they would never have ever expected her to steal from the company” So THEY viewed it as theft.

It feels like part of this story is missing. How did it go from ‘OMG we can’t believe Anna is a thief!!’ to Anna not only still working there, but you getting grief for causing an atmosphere? It doesn’t make sense. Has there been no follow-up; no ‘It was all a misunderstanding; Anna had verbal authorisation’ or similar? It seems odd that they would not only expect you to carry on as normal, but would raise concerns that YOU were causing problems, if Anna was indeed a thief.

I bet the leaver didn’t get the jewellery...

How did it go from ‘OMG we can’t believe Anna is a thief!!’ to Anna not only still working there, but you getting grief for causing an atmosphere? It doesn’t make sense.

I agree. I also dont get how it jumped from there being an anomaly, to a manager jumping straight to 'cant believe Anna is thief'

Surely, if you had someone working for you for a while and trusted them, you first thought would be 'I wonder what's gone on have to look into this'

Which makes me think it was presented by OP as 'anna is a thief. Here's the proof'

The manager really shouldnt have made that comment. Even if OP did present it that way. They should have thanked OP for alerting them, possibly telling OP she needs to not make a judgment (if OP was robust about her assertion) and advise they would deal with it.

There seems to be a lot missing. And OP doesn't seem to grasp probation wasn't extended because she reported an anomaly.

OMG we can’t believe Anna is a thief! that doesn't sound to me like them saying she is but expressing disbelief, an undercurrent of that there must be a reasonable explantion because she just wouldn't do that.

Op how exactly have your dealing with Anna been strained.

What precisely was it that they told you in regards to why the situation you discovered resulted in your probation being extended?

They must have stated some reason such as you overstepped your authority in how you dealt with the issue or you were too aggressive in dealing with the people involved? Did you use the term "theft" to describe this? It's a long way between an unauthorised purchase and theft?

As a new employee I'm sure you're very eager to do your job well and thoroughly but is there a chance you have been too zealous in dealing with this? It's also likely that even though the employee did something wrong, brining it to light and making it impossible for her direct boss to quietly deal with it or ignore it has put people's backs up.

Many years ago I was a new employee at a company and I discovered quickly that some of the people I needed to receive regular reports from simply didn't do them and my predecessor had been doing them herself even though she didn't have access to the information to create accurate reports, so this reporting (financials!) hadn't been genuinely accurate in years. I was shocked and naive enough to think that if I raised concerns about what had been going on it could be fixed. I learned very quickly that no one wanted to have their lax oversight be revealed. I genuinely believe I would have been fired if certain executives could have had their way. I kept my head down and ended up staying at the company for 7 years and had a great experience but I learned that being in the right is only part of the story when you're dealing with office politics.

that doesn't sound to me like them saying she is but expressing disbelief, an undercurrent of that there must be a reasonable explantion because she just wouldn't do that.

I am starting to think that. I’m wondering if the OP has interpreted the comments as ‘I can’t believe Anna has done this!’ when it’s really more ‘I don’t believe Anna would do this’.

I agree with others that you might be better off looking for a new job.

I had a similar experience many years ago when newly qualified. It was a small company with 4 Directors. The Directors were two friends who set up the business plus their wives on the paperwork as co-directors.
I alerted Director A when I accidentally discovered an irregularity. Unfortunately, it outed Director B to be having an office fling with one of the reception staff. Director B rang me at home at the week-end to fire me. He was generous with paid notice but obviously told me not to return to the office.
I was really upset as I enjoyed my job but it made me very wary of potential office romances amongst colleagues.

A finance person obviously needs to question any irregularities, for their own protection as much as anything, but it depends on how you broached it. Did you go in and flag an anomaly, or did you go in guns blazing with accusations of theft.
The management response shows that your approach is not necessarily a good culture fit for their organisation, which maybe a good or a bad thing dependant upon how you like to work. Maybe see if you can adapt to it and if you can't then maybe its time to move on.

What! They should be thanking you and cut your probation short for doing an outstanding job! I doubt you would know but was "Anna" disciplined over this? Demand to know what exactly the issue is and have it in writing, do you have a HR department, if so speak to them. Also ask your manager if you discover such instances in future are you supposed to over look them.

They should be thanking you and cut your probation short for doing an outstanding job!

How is it outstanding. Looking dor irregularities is part of the ops job. So she was simply doing her job. Not going above and beyond or anything outstanding.

It appears she didnt handle it well or handle the relationship well, after.

Part of her job is doing it whilst maintaining team relationships. She hasnt managed to do that.

Not sure how that's outstanding.

Demand to know what exactly the issue is and have it in writing, do you have a HR department, if so speak to them.

Yes, when you’ve already had your probation extended and are (perhaps unfairly) perceived as a troublemaker, what could be a better way to improve things than to storm into HR making demands? Perhaps she could punch her boss in the cock on the way out?

Is that what they actually said? That your probation was extended because you reported it? Seems very strange. Did they explain why?

If i was an honest person who had worked there for years and was trusted with a company card for post
Then i used my own integrity to purchase a leaving gift knowing director would not mind
And a new member of staff on probation went to my boss and called me a thief ...
I woul be pissed too

Perhaps you were a little heavy-handed OP?

I lost a job once (well one more month of pay in a contract which I planned to ask not to renew as the new director was an arse) because I found an issue in the budget from another staff member. Did they get fired. Nope.

Turned out my new director used it as an excuse to get my out after I had turned the department around between us getting hired the same week and her giving her three months notice while I started straight away. I made her look bad as I had laid out a 5 year plan which she has since used and gone on to win awards using. Ran out last year and the department is struggling now

My mum in the other hand found out that business owner was a fraudulent arse. He fired her only for him to lose his business and car to the ceo who he has been screwed over (took out a mortgage in her name... And a car...). Mum got rehired and now will never have to worry about losing them as a client again. My mum does bookkeeping so found out that the accountant was also in on all this and he got in trouble too.

It is crazy op but get it in writing so that you can save yourself. I'd job hunt though - if they seriously think that's a good excuse then they aren't great for of real shit does go down. Or having your back.