DD bf facing disciplinary/dismissal

[AndieGee]

My DDs bf has been working for a retailer for the last 18 months and in that time has been made a supervisor. He has now been suspended for an incident with his previous employer (over 5 yrs ago) At that time Bf resigned and paid back a small amount of money that he had taken, and there was no police involvement. He was a teenager at the time - not an excuse but he regrets it now. His current manager found out about the incident through his mother who works for that company. Are his current employers right to suspend him and can they sack him over this. There has been no indication that there was any wrongdoing in his current job or since he left the original employer.He is so stressed out about it ! He has a meeting at their head office tomorrow. Any advice would be appreciated thanks x

He's not being disciplined for something he did in a previous job - it'll be an investigation into whether he was dishonest on his job application.

If the dismissal from the previous job was for gross misconduct (and it sounds like theft from what you say), the next employer asks something about whether he's ever been disciplined for gross misconduct and he says no, then that's untrue. And potentially another case of gross misconduct.

Suspension is not a "punishment" - it's a neutral act to give the employer time to investigate. He'll hve to go to the meeting and explain himself. They may well decide that as he's not been there 2 years they will sack him. But they may not.

Are you sure he has told you everything? If he was asked to declare any previous issues or undergo a dbs check then he may have been dishonest if he failed to do so. Are they perhaps investigating financial irregularities which has caused this to come to light?

Yes they can sack him - he's not been there long enough to claim unfair dismissal if they do, so if they feel they don't want to employ someone who has stolen from a previous employer, especially in a supervisory position, they can make that decision and just give him notice.

Is it ok to start a disciplinary process based on gossip?

Sadly i think the lack of 2 years' service will mean he has no chance of keeping his job.

But people should not gossip like this.

Are retailers allowed to do DBS checks?

This has nothing to do with DBS checks.

This is about whether or not someone was honest with their application and reasons for leaving their last job. It’s come to light that the person resigned - but would have been dismissed for theft. Is the employee is now is a position of responsibility with access to cash then of course the new employer is going to want to investigate and work out if they are prepared to risk continue employing them.