employment/employee discount question/story

In My Humble Opinion
1

i recently stumbled upon this site when looking into a question about the use of employee discounts…there was some good discussion…i wanted to present my own case/situation and try to get some feedback

i worked for a large marine supply wholesaler here on the east coast…in shipping…been employed there for almost 5 years…was somewhere around 5th or 6th on my shift in regards to seniority(not including supervisors)

winter time hit again…hours were down…i began to wonder if i could find some buyers who were looking to save some money during the winter on boating supplies

i placed a few craigslists ads in my local area…did not mention my employers name in the adds…i received quite a few emails in response…most of the inquiries were pretty vague and not specific enough…or requested items which, the profit, wouldnt have even been worth my time…only one time did i ever inquire to get a price on an item based on my discount

my girlfriend picked up my iphone one day and was in my emails…she asked what was going on as she saw the emails…i explained…and she warned that i could get in trouble…i shrugged it off…and stopped posting the ads…

probably 3 weeks to a month passed since i stopped posting the adds…went into work on a monday…2 hours in i was pulled out by my boss…to go to a meeting with the head of human resources…instead i was met by a member of the local law enforcement…

he presented me with copies of the ads…a list of items from the ineventory that were “missing”…a few still security camera shots of me entering an area in which only a handful of us employees have access to(i am one of those employees who has access…in our handbook it says only employees that have access are allowed in there…that rule is not enforced)…this area can only be entered through a special key…

so here he is trying to relate the ads to missing product…i told him why i was in the secured area at the time and that i have access…told him my conscience was clean…ive never stolen anything from there…i explained to him what the ad was about and the intent as i was facing allegations of theft…he told me i was free to go and he was done speaking to me…

i returned and was asked to go to a meeting with the human …resource head and my boss…i explained everything that i had just gone over with the officer…i told the head of HR that i walk passed my boss every night on my way out(he routinely watches and greets us on our way out in order to make sure no one is stealing)…also told her that people who do not have access to the security area routinely pass through to do work…to which she acknowledged she was aware of…i explained to her about the ad…also explained to her that ive never actually purchased anything from the company using my employee discount…they would have it on record if i did…im quite sure over the next couple of days they inquired into that…i also said that i realized there could be a potential problem with the ad and i stopped posting it

on thursday of that week they contacted me and notified me that i was being terminated…i was kind of suprised as i was sure that i actually did nothing wrong…i asked why exactly…she said she had a meeting with her boss and the legal counsel…they felt that i was trying to compete against the company and their interests by placing the ad

in short…it seems to me that they felt i have stolen from them…that maybe my ad was in an effort to “steal to order”…and since they couldnt prove any of that…they went with what grounds they could

i understand that as an “at will” employee you can be fired for anything really…i just find it hard to believe that someone could be terminated over an ad…ive checked through the human resource packet i received when i started and see nothing in regards to the employee discount…and ive never purchased anything from the company let alone resold any items…and no charges were pressed in regards to theft as they surely would have been if they had any case

just wondering if anyone has any insight to add to my situation…thanks in advance

2

When I started reading, I thought that you were intending the ads to be in furtherance of selling product from the company, i.e. that if a customer responded, you would ring them up as a regular sale as if someone had walked in, but then you started to get in to employee discounts - are you saying that you intended to buy the product with your employee discount and then sell it for a profit outside of working hours? Did the employee handbook say anything about employee discounts being only for products intended for personal or family use only?

3

You can’t go about placing unapproved advertisements for your company. Whatever made you think that was a good idea? Whether you stole anything or not, your lack of judgement in running Craigslist ads for the company you work for is astounding.

4

i intended to buy the product with my discount and sell it for profit outside of working hours…

i cant find anything in my handbook in regards to the discount…and if i ever signed anything in regards to it i was never given a copy

as i noted…i never actually purchased anything from my company(it would on file…all transactions must be done by credit card…no cash purchases)…i stated that in my meeting with the head of HR that i never purchased anything…let alone resold anything…and that she should certainly look into that if she had any concerns as to me actually going through with it

5

my company was never mentioned in the ad…

i mentioned i work for a large marine wholesaler…and that i could possibly save “you” some money on marine supplies

6

Moment of disclosure. I have done something akin to what they are accusing you of. In my case I was stealing product but it was all stuff either A: last unit, going to sit in our supply chain in a box indefinitely on the off chance someone might order one 7 years later, or stuff slated to be destroyed due to contractual/distribution rights issues, I sold it via ebay.

I was actually more scared of being caught on the selling side than the stealing side as I had keys/alarm codes and it was not unusual for me to put in time outside of normal hours.

My first thought, based on your description, someone who is stealing was looking to sell on CL and found your ads. If this was someone above you in the chain of command, they now are looking to deflect blame, look like the good guy, etc. Folks who work in a business rarely go searching for its services.

7

OK, so you never mentioned the company, but your plan was to undercut them on the sale and profit yourself. Really? And you thought they’d be OK with that?

8

I wonder how they knew it was you… its not like you have some sort of… distinctive writing style or anything.

9

Looking at it from the employer’s point of view, dunn/ledo was trying to go into business in competition with his employer, using a discount intended for his personal use to undercut his employer’s prices. No, it’s not illegal (as far as I know), but it’s not consistent with a good employer/employee relationship, where the employee is supposed to be working in the interests of the people paying his wage. I’m not surprised he was fired.

10

i totally understand that point of view…thats there stance…and they take a hardline one

my point is…i never used the discount…never purchased anything…let alone resold anything…and that is proven fact…it would be on record had i purchased anything

11

As mentioned in post 3: lack of judgement. You didn’t get caught doing anything wrong, but you intended to. I imagine finding a more honest person to work in the shipping department wouldn’t be a problem in this economy. Sorry. But you blew it.

12

Since the OP is looking for advice, let’s move this over to IMHO.

Colibri
General Questions Moderator

13

i understand where you are coming from…

just saying…try putting yourself in my shoes…not easy to do i know…its just hard to understand why they would terminate an employee with a good record and in good standing over something like that…never been written up or suspended…disciplined…good yearly reviews

i really feel like if it were an issue about the discount…they could make stipulations about my discount…ban me from using it…i doubt that when an employee actually uses it that they demand to see proof its for personal use or for a family member…i think its more of an issue of alleged theft…theyve made up their minds ive been stealing…and since they cant prove it they are looking for a way to punish

14

Whether or not you actually bought anything using the employee discount, you did intend to abuse the privilege by reselling stuff you planned to buy using it.

And as to whether they demand to see that stuff people buy is actually for personal use, I’ll bet that they would notice if someone started to buy a whole bunch of stuff using their discount.

15

im well aware of what i intended to do…

and im sure if someone started to buy a bunch of stuff they would notice

i guess in the end it doesnt matter…isnt much i can do…i was an “at will” employee and they can basically do whatever they want

but like i said…nothing was purchased…nothing was resold…the privelige was never abused

16

You’ve shown that you can’t be trusted to do what’s in the best interests of the company. Being willing to use your discount to undercut them is not appropriate. Even though you didn’t do it (yet), it still shows a serious lack of judgement.

17

Do you not realize that this is highly unethical? No company will put up with this, and you were lazy enough to get caught.

You’ve also implied that the only reason you *didn’t *buy and resell any of your company’s product is because nobody wanted to buy anything you could make a profit on. Your company is well within their rights not to want you to work for them. You broke their trust in you and you deserved to get fired. Whether you ACTUALLY stole anything or not–it doesn’t matter. That would be an issue with law enforcement. And although you don’t have an issue with law enforcement because you didn’t steal, you thought hard enough about a strongly-unethical act to post a Craigslist ad for your company’s items (at cheaper than retail prices).

What you did is grounds for termination in all 50 states, I believe. If you don’t understand this, you’re not smart or ethical enough to work for anybody.

18

Actually I suspect that this behaviour would be grounds for termination in Canada as well which has much more employee friendly labour practices.

I’m sorry you lost your job OP; however, the blunder you committed was rather monumental - frankly you deserved to be fired.

19

Companies that offer employee discounts tend to take a Very Dim view of people using them for anything but items for personal use.

At the bookstore I worked at, it was written out very clearly - your discount is for you, and for legitimate gifts that you will be giving. You may not buy items with your discount for which you are then paid back. Full stop.

One of the stores had an assistant manager who had already given notice, and within his final week was seen at the register buying books for a friend and getting paid back for it. They called in HR and he was fired on the day before his scheduled last day. Sure, it only cost him one day’s pay - but now he’s got a bad reference from an employer who he worked for for several years. Not good, not worth it.

20

Precisely. Most large companies (and small companies who have gotten burned in this way) have it explicitly spelled out that your employee discount is non-transferable. The attempts to exploit the discount would be enough to get you a formal reprimand, at the very least, and at many places that would be enough to have you out the door altogether. Even in a tight labor market. And that’s not even getting into the whole missing merchandise issue.

And I think you’re massively underestimating just how bad this whole missing merchandise thing looks in light of your CL ads. You’ve already proven you’re willing to screw them over and do something most people realize is pretty sketchy to make some extra money for yourself–and you could make a lot more money if you didn’t even have to pay the employee price on the stuff you resold. I mean, seriously, wouldn’t the guy trying to run a shady resale thing be a more likely suspect for merchandise theft than the guy who had been written up a few times for being late or goofing off? Vanishing few companies are going to keep someone they even mildly suspect might be stealing, even in an economy where jobs go begging. In an economy like this, where they could have a ton of applications for your position before the heat of your ass leaves your desk chair…ditching you is a no-brainer from a boss’s perspective.