Doubling down on dishonesty

Employee theft may not necessarily lead to dismissal, but lying about it certainly will

By Jeffrey R. Smith

Honesty is the best policy — that applies anywhere, including most workplaces. For most employers, honesty is an important characteristic to have in employees. Without it, not only does an employer risk loss through dishonest actions by employees, it can disrupt relations between employees.

When an employer discovers an employee has been dishonest, it’s generally considered very serious. But there are different degrees of dishonesty.

Theft is considered one of the worst forms of dishonest conduct employees can commit against employers. It can often provide just cause for dismissal on its own, depending on what was stolen, whether it was planned or spur-of-the-moment. However, it’s not necessarily the worst thing.

Lying about it is often considered even worse, since it compounds the problem and piles on more dishonesty. In many cases, theft alone wouldn’t have been grounds for dismissal, but when the employee misled the employer’s investigation and didn’t come clean, it sealed the employee’s fate.

Last year, a dockworker and part-time lead hand was observed on video surveillance taking chocolate bars that had been found wedged under a loading pallet and placed on a billing desk. Company policy dictated that such product was to be considered damaged goods or an overage and was to be stored and reported for return to the manufacturer. Both the dockworker and other employees had been trained on the policy, but other employees didn’t follow it when they placed it on the desk and the dockworker didn’t follow it when he ate some of the bars.

When asked about the chocolate bars, the dockworker initially denied any knowledge of them, then admitted to eating part of one because it was just “garbage” anyway. He claimed he wasn’t aware of the company’s policy — which was unlikely since it was an important part of lead hand training — and then claimed he had placed the bars in the desk of a supervisor who was on vacation so he could later ask what to do with them — which was also outlined in the policy.

During the company’s investigation, the worker continued to act angry and tried to deflect responsibility. He was fired for his dishonesty.

An adjudicator agreed the dockworker’s actions warranted discipline, though not necessarily dismissal. The worker had 10 years of discipline-free experience in his favour, and he found the chocolate bars on a desk where they shouldn’t have been because other employees didn’t follow the policy.

However, the dockworker’s initial denial and his attempt to downplay his responsibility constituted additional dishonesty that compounded his initial misconduct. That drove home the point for the adjudicator that the employment relationship was damaged beyond repair and the dockworker couldn’t be trusted. The dismissal was upheld. See Deslauriers and Trans X Ltd., Re, 2015 CarswellNat 5019 (Can. Labour Code Adj.).

The is one more example that employees who try to deflect blame and cover up dishonest misconduct with more dishonesty aren’t doing themselves any favours. And while theft or other types dishonest conduct by employees doesn’t always constitute just cause for dismissal, trying to cover it up by lying almost always will.

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