<p>icy9FF - unless a police report is filed, there is no problem. Signing a paper in the office - which the management does for all cases of shoplifting, most likely, is just that. They stick the paper in a drawer, and that’s it.<br>
Now, If it was me, I would have a talk with my kid to make sure that she understands that what she did was not okay. But, longterm ramifications? Nah.</p>
<p>“I’d call the store and ask for a copy of the report she signed, then you’d know how much trouble it could cause for her in the future and whether it would be worth contacting an attorney. A lawyer isn’t going to be able to tell you much anyway unless they know exactly what she signed.”</p>
<p>I agree with this first step. I might even mention that you’d like the family lawyer to review this and see if they back down at all.</p>
<p>They probably just wanted her to sign the report so she can’t get unemployment because she was fired “for cause” Technically she quit anyway so she isn’t entitled to unemployment. I’d stay far away from the store!!! Bad karma!</p>
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<p>I don’t agree. I cannot imagine that a consumer would like to purchase a product only to find out that one of the employees had sampled it. The store was simply looking out for its reputation and removing from employment an employee who took something that did not belong to her. It is actually a pretty common thing to occur. At least the store did not try to prosecute her for theft.</p>
<p>Your daugther is learning valuable lessons here. Sometimes the simplest things can be used to attack you by a person so inclined. On her life road is very likely to meet people like this again. She needs to be aware of who she is working with. Just as you would be uncomfortable with a dope smoker for a boss, the holier than thou shift manager is just as bad… </p>
<p>She did a dumb thing. It should never happen again. The first person she should be mad at is hersef. Not anybody else. She fed the beast. She is responsible. Don’t let that aspect slip away because of the idiot response. </p>
<p>Leave it off the resume, write it off as learning and move on. You don’t need to invest in an employment attourny as not every job requires a security clearance or is government. The lesson to be learned here is NEVER give someone reason to make your life crap.</p>
<p>anxiousmom: The report goes into the employee’s personel file and will be examined every time a background check request is received by Rite- Aid or its third party processor of background checks. This situation, although seemingly innocuous, does come back to haunt many job seekers and credit seekers-- often many years down the road. Opie is right; but, it is too late to avoid the incident, please see an employment attorney-- not a family law or other type lawyer as this is a very specialized area of the law.</p>
<p>haha my friend’s family founded Rite-Aid. It’s really a ridiculously awful, awful company.</p>
<p>Um, this doesn’t seem entirely within the bounds of the law. Check with an employment rights attorney and/or your state’s Department of Labour’s employee rights commission.</p>
<p>Yes, I am an attorney. However, I am probably not admitted to practice in the OP’s state and its not my area. I concur with the advice to consult an attorney immediately. </p>
<p>IMO, you would be foolish not to do so. </p>
<p>While I am not purporting to give legal advice, I think it’s very, very foolish to assume that the D can just leave a job off the resume and it will never be a problem. There are situations in which you are required to list EVERY employer you have EVER worked for and omitting one would be a misrepresentation which in and of itself would be grounds for discharge. That might be the case, for example, for a job which requires a security clearance. </p>
<p>Deal with this NOW.</p>
<p>My S had a similiar situation…worked first job in a gro. store as a bagger. The kid who made sandwiches in the deli handed some “free” ones out to the baggers/cashiers late one night. Somehow management found out. Deli kid got fired, the others were questioned as to whether they ate the sandwiches. All denied involvement except S who told the truth. He was told he would be put on suspension. He knew this meant he would be fired, so he quit immediately and never went back. Two months later he got a job at the gro. store a block away…no questions.</p>
<p>Before college he had to file papers for National Security Clearance. It all went through without incident.</p>
<p>Don’t know if the fact that he never signed anything and quit before they could fire him made a difference or not.</p>
<p>Note…S did list that employer on all apps.</p>
<p>Rather than seeking the attorney, could your daughter return to the store and tell the manager that she was caught off guard by being accused of theft and that she was actually planning to pay for the hand sanitizer (which I am certain she was…right?..maybe I mean that and maybe I don’t) at the end of her shift. Have her ask if they could review the situation with some heart and have her tell them that she has certainly learned a valuable lesson. I imagine that the episode seems less important to Rite Aid over time and a sincere apology might work. At least I think it is worth a try.</p>
<p>Wow! This is really amazing and sad. I employ several teenagers and I SUPPLY them with hand santizer. I realize that Rite-Aid can not do this, but I would think that any manager with half a brain could have taken OP’s D aside and said “Hey, you probably don’t realize it, but using the sanitizer is considered theft and I could fire you for it. Don’t do it again.”<br>
Unfortunately, I would have to agree with speaking to a lawyer. In our day you would just leave it off future job apps., but in this high tech world, this information could come back to bite her in the butt. I would not want to take the chance.</p>
<p>Almostlaunched: I can hardly believe some of the alarm that has come from this.</p>
<p>It’s a non-issue. I’m almost 50, have been “released” from service for far worse(!) than your D’s infraction of the RiteAid policy, and have yet to be turned down for a decent job. I’ve even had headhunters do thorough background checks. </p>
<p>Believe me, what happened to your D (provided she’s told all, and that there wasn’t a video of her lifting from the till or giving free items away) is not worth even talking about.</p>
<p>There is such a wide range of opinions above regarding how significant this could be for her future. </p>
<p>For that reason, if this were my D, I’d surely ask either an employment attorney or a government agency that deals with employment. If the government agency (not sure even where to go exactly) thinks it’s significant, then seek out an employment attorney to try to overturn it, expunge a file, or whatever it takes.</p>
<p>People get fired all the time in stores for such infractions. It could be that the store wanted to fire her anyway and used the theft as reason to fire her and deny her unemployment. I worked in a department store many years ago, and the back office detention, sign a statement thing was common. Technically, the store could call the cops if anyone was using product for sale. If there is some question of race or disability wrongful firing, that’s one thing, but I don’t see that the store did anything illegal. If it was my daughter on the facts presented, I would tell her to go find another job and be more responsible next time.</p>
<p>Wow, sorry that your D has to go through this. I think that you also know that it is not about using hand sanitizer; but opening and using a product that was not a sample then not paying for that product. </p>
<p>In hindsight, your D should have purchased the sanitizer then she would have had her sanitizer on hand for her personal use, but she this is not what happened and the store viewed it as a compromise of their loss prevention policy (now that she has used it, it cannot be sold to another consumer and she did not pay for the product).</p>
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<p>I think this process is also true if one ever plans on applying to the bar where failure to disclose could have consequences regarding character and moral fitness (I am sure the lawyers will chime in if this correct/wrong). IMHO it is better to list the employment it and add an addemdum explaining the situation (should the need arise) vs. omitting it, which would be considered willful/intentional misrepresentation.</p>
<p>Getting her next job might be the most difficult thing; hopefully she has a friend who will vouch for her and can get another cashier or similar job. Later employers may ask for every employer she’s ever had and she would be honest to put this one down, but chances are they will never call Rite-Aid, and even if they do, Rite-Aid will probably only say they have no comment.</p>
<p>“In hindsight, your D should have purchased the sanitizer then she would have had her sanitizer on hand for her personal use”</p>
<p>But unless she remembered to keep the sales receipt on hand all of the time, how could she have proved that she had bought the sanitizer? Instead of being accused of stealing a few squirts, she could have been accused of stealing the whole bottle. I know that when I worked as a clerk/cashier decades ago,we were told that we couldn’t have anything in our pockets. Presumably that was to prevent theft.</p>
<p>Obviously she should have paid for the hand sanitizer, that is a given. As I said she made a stupid mistake and should have known better. There was never a package that was opened, these were spray hand sanitizers that you just press the top and spray.</p>
<p>I am married to an attorney. People come to him all the time with workplace minor, silly, goofy problems that have created really thorny ones later if not dealt with properly. We all agree that using the hand sanitizer was wrong but also borderline…as many people in the drug store where sick people shop would think providing one for employees was simply common sense. We don’t want your daughter to have unintended later consequences or to have anyone “wonder” if there was more to it, or to have your daughter ever have to explain it again. Ideally, it can be dealt with in a way where it will drop off your family history into the oblivion where it belongs. But I heartily disagree with not consulting an attorney on her behalf. These are the moments when a parent needs to be proactive and to participate with the adult child to show them how to work within the system to resolve issues in the best way possible. The work place is full of pitfalls of larger depths later. I think an attorney can help her use her mea culpa to also get this thing concluded in a cleaned up manner for her future.</p>