In this case study, employment lawyer Kevin Murphy looks at a client case where stock was going missing from a logistics company
Overview and Background
The client is a logistics company with a large warehousing facility where they undertake de-container and de-palletisation as well as packaging and re-woking solutions. The client became aware of stock going missing, they discovered discarded food wrappers from products that had been reworked and received a complaint from their customer about discrepancies in stock levels.
The contract with the customer allowed for the value stock discrepancies to be reclaimed, the client therefore, suffered a financial loss.
Client concerns and aims
The client was concerned about missing stock levels, their ability to identify the culprit and their reputation with the customer.
They wanted assistance in investigating this matter and trying to either find the culprit or deal with the re-work as a whole whilst maintaining staffing levels.
What we did
We provided two options for the client, we could either deal with the staff as a whole or try to reduce the number of possible perpetrators to either one or a handful of employees.
We guided the investigation and worked backwards to identify what products were lost and who was working on those days. We were able to identify a pattern and reduce the re-work team of 10 to three possible employees.
Further investigation found that one of the suspected three employees had listed the missing products for sale on Facebook Marketplace.
We then guided the client through a compliant disciplinary process and issue informal letters of concern to the remaining employees to ensure they know they should report any future stock losses.
We also advised on the client’s right to deduct losses from the employee.
Outcome and benefits
The culprit was identified and safely managed out of the business. The rest of the team were warned that any failure to report the theft of stock or other misconduct is in itself misconduct and could lead to them also being disciplined.
The customer had deducted the value of their losses from the client. We reviewed the contractual clauses in place and advised the client that they had the right to deduct the losses from the employee. A deduction in one lump sum however would have put the employee in financial hardship so we assisted in the negotiation of a repayment plan to recover the losses suffered.
Importantly, the client was able to maintain staff levels within the rework team allowing them to continue to deliver on their contract and the relationship with the customer improved.
HR help and advice for your logistics business
If you are in the logistics industry or have drivers on the road representing your business and want to ensure you have the right HR support please get in touch with the team who can carry out a free HR review and advice you on your HR headaches.
