My partner's worked for a well known company for 16 months. Recently there's been stock loss at his company and they are accusing him of stealing money out of the till (although his tills never been down :huh:). Yesterday the main manager came in and pulled him into the office and removed 6 pound which was in his trouser pocket and told him he wasn't allowed this back until they found out where it was from ( i gave him this money to buy a drink from work). They also said they had been watching him on the till yesterday and have recorded him stealing. My partner asked to see the cctv footage as he had not stole from the till, and his boss said "i dont have to show you anything, i can fire you right here, right now".
To be honest it's starting to get my partner down, they are accusing him of bullying and stealing although they have no evidence.
It seems to me that they are trying to fire him and will use anything to do so.
Surely a boss doesn't have the right to remove money out of his pockets without police being there or without evidence that he's stolen it from work.

Speak to his union if he's in one.
If not speak to the CAB.

If he's not stealing then they've either made a mistake or they're trying to set him up for some reason.
If it was the former then why would they lie about CCTV, which they must be doing otherwise they would have fired him and probably also called the police.
He could report that removal of his money as theft. It could also be worth going to his bosses boss, depending on who that is.

So, Union, CAB, Police (maybe), file a formal grievance against the manager for bullying, harassment and theft.

Contact ACAS http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1461

Helpline numbers:

Monday - Friday 08:00 - 18:00 - 08457 47 47 47
Monday - Friday 08:00 - 18:00 - (for Minicom users) - 08456 06 16 00

They should be able to advise.

Also have a look at your home insurance policy you may have legal expenses cover which is likely to have a free helpline number so you could get some free legal advice.

I would advise your partner start keeping a diary of events, include even the smallest details as they may prove important at a later date.

Best of luck

Ty. They said he must sign a contract to say they can remove any items that he's got on him on shift. but he's refused to sign it as we don't think they have the rights/power to remove anything without a police officer present.
They wouldnt show him the "EVIDENCE" they said they dont have to.

If your partner has been captured on cctv, for any reason, he has the right to veiw this and all his footage and recieve a hard copy of his images if he requests one. Also cctv footage can only be stored for so long (28 days I think) It's data protection and all that, so they should have a data protection officer. Don't let them blind you with science thought, look on the internet and do your research first, be perpared!
Sounds like a case of Industrial Tribunal here we come!

I agree ACAS would be a good start.

Good luck..

They do not under any circumstances have the right to remove something of your partners from his person, did they ask him to empty his pockets out or did he do it himself??? Every company has to have a grievance and discplinary procedure and the previous posts are correct, if they say they have cctv of him he has a right to see it. If you partner isn't in a UNION (silly person) they do a dpa reqest (data protection act), ask for all information held on him including the alledged cctv footage of him, put it in writing and deliver it by hand or by recorded delivery. they have to provide it by law, also tell him to get a recipt for what was taken off him and put it in righting that he wants to raise a formal grievance aginst both the company and against that maanger for bullying and harrassement.

For a start they have stolen that 6 pounds that they took from his pocket. A manager has no more right to take money from your trousers than does some bloke off the street who you don't know. So it's actually the firm who is in the wrong.

Now, personally, I wouldn't have been having with any of that kind of nonsense, but that's happened now so it's someone by-the-by.

Point seems to be, they obviously want your partner out of there for whatever reason. Business is probably on hard times. I can tell you that I wouldn't be working another second in a place where they treated me like that.

If you can afford it, I'd consider resigning (right now) and suing for constructive dismissal. But I'm not a lawyer, so you'd need proper advice on that from ACAS, your union or similar. It'd also help to have some kind of evidence of the bullying tactics.

If your partner is inocent then tell him to call the police, I am not a solisitor but I believe that his boss has acted ileagaly and should be reported.