Advice needed for girlfriend - work situation..

[ant_j]

(oops, meant advice) have corrected it for you

Ill try to keep this short as possible.

My gf works part time (tue and fri) in a small high street jewellers.
She has been there for nearly 8 years, was full time but had our child.
Recently, since a couple of young school leaving girls have started, items have been going missing. Head office have said that "everyone" is under suspician (fair enough). The manager is however trying to conduct an investigation in store (shouldnt they get someone in who doesnt work there) and my gf came home with a letter from the manager yesterday saying basically "....everyone is now required to provide the company with a police check. I will issue you with the necessary paperwork in due course and should the checks come back clear, you will be refunded the full cost of obtaining them (aprox £15). As I am sure you can appreciate, having a "clean police record" does not remove you from suspician, however i feel that by havin these it ould greatly help my enquires...."

Now, I can see the point, i really do, however if it were me in that situation, £15 is nearly 3 hours pay at her workplace, I know i wont see it again as i've been done for driving offences, completly unrelated to what the investigation is for. My gf is a little worried as she was cautioned aprox 10 years ago for possession of class b drug (think about £10 speed), which i dont think will show up on a check, but if it does she wont see that 3hr pay again!

Can they "make" you have to pay it, can you be fired for not doing it, should the jewellers pay for it, if its not going to clear the suspician then why do it?

Also...
My gf has told me that the manager herself has been on one of these young girls networking sites and has seen in photos on the site her and a friend wearing what looks like 2 articles that has been stolen. The girl has blocked the manager from looking now. However, the manager is holding this info. She hasnt or wont inform head office as doesnt see the point. Surley as a "manager" this is her duty, as now the entire store is under suspicion!

If any legal eagles can offer advice, or anyone, id greatly appreciate it.
Sorry for the long winded story!

[RHCP]

You think a class b drug won't show up in a police check?

I have just had a police check and a theft offence showed up from 20 years ago when I was 16. I wouldn't mind but it was my stupid friends robbing wheel trims ( I didn't even know what the *&^* wheel trims where). We got caught in the process I said I didn't do it, and I had to go to court and got found guilty and a fine. They said they done it and got a warning!!

Where is the justice in that?

It nearly stopped me getting a place in Uni as a trainee teacher.

[contraste]

Originally Posted by ant_j

(oops, meant advice)

Ill try to keep this short as possible.

My gf works part time (tue and fri) in a small high street jewellers.
She has been there for nearly 8 years, was full time but had our child.
Recently, since a couple of young school leaving girls have started, items have been going missing. Head office have said that "everyone" is under suspician (fair enough). The manager is however trying to conduct an investigation in store (shouldnt they get someone in who doesnt work there) and my gf came home with a letter from the manager yesterday saying basically "....everyone is now required to provide the company with a police check. I will issue you with the necessary paperwork in due course and should the checks come back clear, you will be refunded the full cost of obtaining them (aprox £15). As I am sure you can appreciate, having a "clean police record" does not remove you from suspician, however i feel that by havin these it ould greatly help my enquires...."

Now, I can see the point, i really do, however if it were me in that situation, £15 is nearly 3 hours pay at her workplace, I know i wont see it again as i've been done for driving offences, completly unrelated to what the investigation is for. My gf is a little worried as she was cautioned aprox 10 years ago for possession of class b drug (think about £10 speed), which i dont think will show up on a check, but if it does she wont see that 3hr pay again!

Can they "make" you have to pay it, can you be fired for not doing it, should the jewellers pay for it, if its not going to clear the suspician then why do it?

Also...
My gf has told me that the manager herself has been on one of these young girls networking sites and has seen in photos on the site her and a friend wearing what looks like 2 articles that has been stolen. The girl has blocked the manager from looking now. However, the manager is holding this info. She hasnt or wont inform head office as doesnt see the point. Surley as a "manager" this is her duty, as now the entire store is under suspicion!

If any legal eagles can offer advice, or anyone, id greatly appreciate it.
Sorry for the long winded story!

If she is a member, she should contact her trade union for legal advice.
If not, she should contact her local Citizens Advice Bureau.

I don't believe the manager can retroactively demand police checks if they were not required when she started employment at the shop.

It sounds like the manager is ineffectual and floundering around for a solution. He should contact the police if theft is occurring in his shop and stop harassing innocent staff members.

[ant_j]

Thanks for the info!
TBH, we dont care if it shows up or not, but why should she pay and not be re-embursed when its completely unrelated.

Ta for your comments, and i know - the british justice system is brilliant isnt it lol

[ant_j]

Originally Posted by contraste

If she is a member, she should contact her trade union for legal advice.
If not, she should contact her local Citizens Advice Bureau.

I don't believe the manager can retroactively demand police checks if they were not required when she started employment at the shop.

It sounds like the manager is ineffectual and floundering around for a solution. He should contact the police if theft is occurring in his shop and stop harassing innocent staff members.

Thanks for that also! Thats what i thought. Surely it would need to be "re-written" into their contracts? Great help thanks

[unique]

she (and the other staff) shouldn't have to complete police check, she can't be forced to do it either. to get rid of her they would need to go through a disciplinary process and fire here, or make her redundant. under the situation discribed it would likely be found as unfair dismissal or unfair redundancy

i suggest she speaks to ACAS and/or CAB for free advice. CAB may help her write a letter to her employer about it

she should perhaps say she will complete the request if they give her the funds upfront, but isn't going to pay for it out of her own pocket, so checkmate. there is nothing much they can do really. that at least shows she is willing to do the check

if you have an HR department you should also consider logging a formal complaint about this (it depends on the size of the company as to the affect it would have) as you feel this is harrassment

[paul1967]

There nothing stopping your girlfriend is there going to the site and print the picture,then send it to head office without them knowing who sent it.

[MikeTV]

Regarding the money, I don't think you can legally withhold someone's pay, for any reason (which effectively is what the manager is doing). It is not the employee's responsibility to pay for the shop's business expenses. But what makes it tricky is that you don't want to upset the situation by making a huge fuss over it (even though you are within your rights, morally). If you can easily afford the £15, then I wouldn't bother protesting it (although you may want to indicate - diplomatically - that you are not very happy at being asked to "loan" them the money - which is what this amounts to).

Regarding the previous offences, I suggest you (or rather your GF) speaks to the manager about them before the police check is done, and explain the circumstances. I don't know if there are grounds for dismissal based on previous convictions (I suspect you would have a pretty good case for unfair dismissal - but that would be very had process to undertake). But by talking about it up-front with the manager, you may able to do some damage limitation, and if they had any sense, wouldn't give a damn about it. Your GF has proved her worthiness as an employee with 8 years of good service.

[Crocodile]

AFAIK, an individual cannot apply for a CRB. It has to be initiated by the employer. I believe current fees are £31 for a Standard Disclosure & £36 for Enhanced so don't know where the £15 comes into it. If the employer wants to conduct this exercise then IMO, they should be solely responsible for funding it.

Sounds from your description as though this is a small concern rather than a chain. If it IS a chain then as Unique said, the matter should be referred to HR.

If an alleged crime has taken place then the owner/manager needs to report this to the police for them to investigate rather than attempting her impression of Miss Marple.

A formal caution will appear regardless of what it was for.

http://www.crb.gov.uk/

[geomuss]

tell them in no uncertain terms to **** off!!

If they have now just instigated a policy of police checks, then it is up to them to pay for it!!!!

If they carry on in the manner of harrasing you GF then inform them that she will take them for constructive dismissal.

[MikeTV]

I think the employer has the right to ask you to pay for it - but only if this is being done at the point of applying for a new job (or potentially for a new role), because you then have the option to refuse and just walk away. But if you are an existing employee, I agree, it's unfair, and possibly illegal, to make you pay for it, or coerce you into providing a "loan" for it. When they offered you the job (and agreed to pay you), it was unconditional on a CRB check. I wouldn't have thought you could then go and change the terms of employment at a later date. I guess there may be special exceptions, in the case of carers or those who have contact with children.

I suspect you could probably refuse, but in reality, you then run the risk of upsetting them, and they may then be inclined to invent some other reason for getting rid of you. Honesty and cooperation might be more rewarding in the long run.

[ant_j]

Thanks to each of you!

I've just looked over her contract and says nothing at all about checks.

My mistake, she only be there 6 yrs

[shodan]

If there are employee theft's occuring in the store then why hasn't the manager contacted police? Its a theft by employee, potentially a very high value of stolen property, no suspects and the likelyhood that more items will go missing. Surely the shop has CCTV...
I think the manageress did it. Case solved...






Or the butler, in the library with the candlestick.

[andyrj1]

Was just about to say that is there no CCTV.

.

[Londondecca]

I agree with Unique, contact ACAS or CAB.

A CRB check would not directly help the investigation and in any case it would be unreasonable to ask staff to undergo this procedure. This sounds like the manager is merely 'sabre rattling' to try and flush out the guilty party