Partner has used Work Credit Card for Personal Expenses!

[Charcol]

Hes been called in for a disciplinary meeting to explain himself.

I have advised him to co-operate and tell the truth as best as poss. Its several transactions, including cash withdrawals. Although he has never tried to claim them as a business expense to recoup the money from work, and has paid the monies back after use.

However, the policy is no personal expenses!

What are the best options to avoid dismissal? Has anyone witnessed or seen similar scenarios? Advise would be much appreciated. thanks!

I think he has two options:
Claim it was a mistake, he thought it was his personal card and he re-imbursed immediately. Looks less believable if it is every month, and there is an expectation he should have put measures in place to avoid it happening again.
Or
Go full on mental health, woe is me, exacerbated by workplace stress. Didn't know why he did it, not coping well, happy to seek help with his issues (sorry, I know this is offensive to people with actual mental health issues but I've seen it work as a defence).
If they take a tough line or it's an industry like financial services with lots of compliance he may well be sucked anyway though.

Sacked not sucked!

Your paragraph on mental health is terrible advice not only is it very offensive it is lying.

For me the cash will push it over into looking like fraud as it implies intent.

The cash thing is what will have raised flags - while it is technically possible for me to get cash out on my corporate card, it is very strongly tracked.

I have accidentally used my corporate card for personal expenses, mainly for Uber rides. As I have the 'bastard amex' style card (It's in my name, the bill liability is mine, my company will transfer money to the account for claimed, receipted, business expenses) it hasn't been a drama, but I do know that if it became a habit I could be on a misconduct.

I’m not following how this works. With my work CC, I have to list out everything I’ve spent on a report. Everything is done virtually, and the bill gets paid from my head office. If I took out cash on my work CC, there would be nobody to “pay it back” to. There’s not some guy sitting in accounting with a cash box that he takes to RBS to deposit every month. I think perhaps DH isn’t being honest, and there maybe was no “paying back”.

Did he only pay the thefts back after he was caught, or before? In my company it would be instant dismissal either way but it would also be reported to the police if the money hadn't been repaid in full before discovery.

If it’s been desperate usage when you’ve had no money left, and he’s honest about that, a sympathetic employer might take that into consideration when deciding what action to take.

If he works in any kind of industry related to finance, or with a strong compliance access, or if he has any role in company finances, that would make things worse with respect to his job. Companies are very, very wary indeed of having people who have personal financial issues in roles with fiduciary responsibilities. For obvious reasons.

Sorry but there is nothing he can do to mitigate , other than be honest. Depending on the industry / business policy this could be gross misconduct with immediate dismissal ( think compliance / finance ). Could be seen as fraud as funds, including cash - which is an absolute no no on any corporate card, have been regularly taken - even if repaid. It’s the equivalent of dipping into the till, even if subsequently repaid.

In the businesses I have worked in it would be dismissal , and sadly I have had to dismiss people for doing this same thing - their defence was they repaid everything, but it’s no defence, it’s fraud. You should also be aware if he offers to resign rather than be sacked, that might not be accepted.

The best I think he can hope for is gross misconduct, final warning but…….

Mental health issues does not mean the individual has lack of capacity to make decisions about what actions are right or wrong and the employee will be able to see straight through this based on work performance etc. Terrible advice and may actually drive to company to take a harder line.

ypu call the credit card company and pay them.

Ok OP. Whatever the outcome of the HR meeting, you both need to get proper debt advice and support. The Citizen's advice bureau and various charities offer this and may be able to negotiate with debtors for you.

Agree with others that if his work are going to sack him, he would be best asking if he can resign rather than be sacked. It will be easier for him to get another job then.

This

A one-off, as the details were stored on the laptop after booking travel, or in an absolute/lost all my other cards crisis/had literally no other means to pay PLUS an immediate confession to the manager/HR/Finance MIGHT be forgivable.

Several times, without telling anyone, gross misconduct at my work. Out the door!

Uh oh. HR bod here - this looks pretty bad to be fair. Employers need to be able to trust their employees. I've overseen a fair few expense related disciplinary hearings and they've never gone well (for the employee)

The best outcome was one where someone had ordered an extra main course when ordering food related expenses (company policy was that if you got home after 8 pm you could claim a meal - employee had ordered a takeaway with an extra main for his wife). That just resulted in a letter of concern and everyone thinking he was a cheeky bastard.

Anything more money related than that and I'd expect a dismissal

This is the kind of thing that gives mental health in the workplace a bad name and leads to discrmination as managers think anyone with MH issues will use it as a get out of jail free card.

Is he in a union? If so he needs their support asap - will depend on the policy of the company, what he has signed up to, how frequently, accidental, misuse. Are there mitigating factors?

however he has withdrawn cash - which comes with massive interest from day 1. That is a very definite action and doesn’t look good for him. He would have needed to use a specific pin for this.

if their policy is that this is gross misconduct then final written warning would be a good outcome. Allowing to resign before being fired is a potential but they could dismiss immediately. I can’t imagine he will come out of this will a slap on the wrist.

This!

Yup, sorry. I also think this doesn't look great.
I once used my company travel card by accident (number was saved on my easyjet account), and I realised within about an hour of doing it. I alerted work immediately, and paid it the same day. I also had a track record of having had it for about 8 years, and there never being an issue with any of my expenses.

I think your husband has to get his Union (if he is in one) person to go with him, and be honest about it. If he goes in all apologetic, I would imagine things would go better for him. I think that there's also the other issue about why he's done this.

Same with me at work, the odd error happens with someone tapping the wrong card at the petrol station or accidentally saving the card to Amazon cart, it happens and people always come forward and make it right.

Withdrawing cash on the regular is completely different… you’d have to put the pin in at the ATM and you know it’s your work CC. A PP has mentioned OP has posted a lot in the past about money issues and being in debt, so it’s possible the work CC was being used to get cash until payday and then paying it back. And then you fall into a vicious cycle…

Sorry OP but at my company he’d definitely be dismissed.

I can't see how he will avoid dismissal.

It's not like he used it once by accident and immediately told the company and paid it back, which would still be viewed dimly. Surely when you have a CC that doesn't belong to you you're incredibly careful about using it? Withdrawing money from a CC causes interest to be charged on it and can reduce the account owner's credit rating. That's quite literally theft if he's used someone else's credit card to withdraw cash and then spent it.

I imagine the best case scenario would be if he asks them if he can resign rather than be fired. Then he might be able to find another job. What a silly man.

Can he get to see a solicitor who deals with employment issues or a union rep? I’d be worrying less about losing this job - that seems likely - and more about how he’ll get a new job. Negotiating a clean exit where he resigns, they keep quiet about the reason and he can get a dates of employment reference from them might be the best option. Obviously that depends on the employment law where you are and the kind of job he has.

Perhaps ask for a pay rise

Rereading your OP, it sounds like he’s eg used the company credit card to take out £100 on Monday and paid it back on the Friday then done the same a week later. So he has paid back the money each time and wasn’t caught owing any money to the company. That makes it more likely that he’ll be able to leave cleanly.

The only advice I can give you is to prepare for him being sacked and what you can/will need to do to mitigate the impact of that on your family and finances.

I cannot reasonably see any way he won't be sacked, if he is very lucky they may allow him to resign with immediate effect, the problem is this:

However the policy is no personal expenses

and this is what he has done, it not a one-off, a mistake, it is calculated:

Its several transactions, including cash withdrawals.

This bit is irrelevant as he should never have done it in the first place, he does not have the right to 'borrow' money from the company as and when he desires:

Although he has never tried to claim them as a business expense to recoup the money from work, and has paid the monies back after use.