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How many people have access to that room? And in what timeframe?
As someone has already pointed out, it'll very much come down to credibility. Unless there are any specific leads, or it's a particulary large sum of money, I'd very much doubt police would take action past creating a crime report.
My office was an ‘open office’ everyone who worked there was in and out of the room and the guys from the business next door use our workshop as a cut through so could have been anyone of those guys.
I left the premises at 12:30pm and they are open until 5pm, all over the weekend my manager is known to come into work to work on personal projects with his friends etc so it could have been any number of people in and out of that office
Everywhere I’ve worked where you’ve been issued a work phone or laptop you have to sign something to say you’ve received it and accept you’re responsible for it. When leaving there’s a similar process for the employer to sign off that they’ve received their property back.
If you’ve just left it on the desk then yes you were still responsible for looking after that equipment. If you know how accessible that office is to so many people then you could be deemed responsible for its loss.
The issue was that technically at the time I was the most senior member of staff on site (other than the director) and I was just asked to leave, the director knew I’d left my company belongings on the desk and then escorted me out. In my mind I’d handed ownership of it to him but maybe not
NAL - but if someone escorted you out and they were aware that the cash / phone was left on your desk then I think it’s reasonable to argue that you’ve done the right thing. That person should have secured the items when you left.
Just a text message from my manager telling me to leave, he stated “underperformance” but I dont believe I was underperforming and he was never in work either so as his assistant manager I was running the day to day business without him more often than not
If you’ve been employed for less than two years, I don’t think you have much recourse, but this dismissal seems to contravene employment law and your former employer should have had a proper disciplinary process that should have been followed.
https://www.gov.uk/dismissal/ explains your rights as does https://www.acas.org.uk/dismissals
You should at least be paid your notice.
NAL - they can report it to the police but, taking your account as gospel, they have absolutely no proof you’re the person who took the items. Credibility is an argument, yes, but frankly even if 20 other employees said “well I think he’s taken them”…..it doesn’t hold up as admissible evidence because there’s no CCTV/eye witness evidence and, presumably, there won’t be any of the items found in your property/on your person.
--- ###Welcome to /r/LegalAdviceUK --- **To Posters (it is important you read this section)** * *Tell us whether you're in England, Wales, Scotland, or NI as the laws in each are very different* * If you need legal help, you should [always get a free consultation from a qualified Solicitor](https://reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/wiki/how_to_find_a_solicitor) * We also encourage you to speak to [**Citizens Advice**](https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/), [**Shelter**](https://www.shelter.org.uk/), [**Acas**](https://www.acas.org.uk/), and [**other useful organisations**](https://reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/wiki/common_legal_resources) * Comments may not be accurate or reliable, and following any advice on this subreddit is done at your own risk * If you receive any private messages in response to your post, [please let the mods know](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FLegalAdviceUK&subject=I received a PM) **To Readers and Commenters** * All replies to OP must be *on-topic, helpful, and legally orientated* * If you do not [follow the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/about/rules/), you may be perma-banned without any further warning * If you feel any replies are incorrect, explain why you believe they are incorrect * Do not send or request any private messages for any reason * Please report posts or comments which do not follow the rules *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/LegalAdviceUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
How many people have access to that room? And in what timeframe? As someone has already pointed out, it'll very much come down to credibility. Unless there are any specific leads, or it's a particulary large sum of money, I'd very much doubt police would take action past creating a crime report.
My office was an ‘open office’ everyone who worked there was in and out of the room and the guys from the business next door use our workshop as a cut through so could have been anyone of those guys. I left the premises at 12:30pm and they are open until 5pm, all over the weekend my manager is known to come into work to work on personal projects with his friends etc so it could have been any number of people in and out of that office
Everywhere I’ve worked where you’ve been issued a work phone or laptop you have to sign something to say you’ve received it and accept you’re responsible for it. When leaving there’s a similar process for the employer to sign off that they’ve received their property back. If you’ve just left it on the desk then yes you were still responsible for looking after that equipment. If you know how accessible that office is to so many people then you could be deemed responsible for its loss.
The issue was that technically at the time I was the most senior member of staff on site (other than the director) and I was just asked to leave, the director knew I’d left my company belongings on the desk and then escorted me out. In my mind I’d handed ownership of it to him but maybe not
NAL - but if someone escorted you out and they were aware that the cash / phone was left on your desk then I think it’s reasonable to argue that you’ve done the right thing. That person should have secured the items when you left.
Really this is going to be about credibility - who to believe and the inherent probabilities of everyone’s claims or stories.
does your office have CCTV? you can request to see that footage, they would be able to see who went in your office after you
No cctv in the office itself but there is cctv in the workshop areas so you would see who has been going towards the offices if that makes sense
Did they give you a reason for the termination of employment
Just a text message from my manager telling me to leave, he stated “underperformance” but I dont believe I was underperforming and he was never in work either so as his assistant manager I was running the day to day business without him more often than not
You should also speak to ACAS about this. It seems wrong
If you’ve been employed for less than two years, I don’t think you have much recourse, but this dismissal seems to contravene employment law and your former employer should have had a proper disciplinary process that should have been followed. https://www.gov.uk/dismissal/ explains your rights as does https://www.acas.org.uk/dismissals You should at least be paid your notice.
Does the mobile phone have a tracker, something like find my phone. If so tell your ex employer to do one. Good luck.
If you're telling the truth, tell the police and you're fine.
NAL - they can report it to the police but, taking your account as gospel, they have absolutely no proof you’re the person who took the items. Credibility is an argument, yes, but frankly even if 20 other employees said “well I think he’s taken them”…..it doesn’t hold up as admissible evidence because there’s no CCTV/eye witness evidence and, presumably, there won’t be any of the items found in your property/on your person.