Her manager and loss prevention were in the break room when my step daughter came in. When she walked in the loss prevention person said the she and my step daughter had the same taste in wallets. My step daughter was a little confused about what she was talking about. She was then told that they went through her purse that was left on a hook but should have been in a locker. They told her that they did it to teach her a lesson for leaving it out. She then called me and I told her that they had no right without prior consent or without cause. She called her HR department and they told to look in the Employee Handbook…she did and it did state that they could go through her belongings. I’m thinking they can if they have cause or with her consent. Is leaving her purse out a reason for going through her purse?
I do not believe that anyone- manager or even loss prevention has the right to go through anyone’s belongs if they are not present. I would say if they think she was stealing Yes, they have a a right, either she can say yes, or be fired…yet she wasn’t even given the chance to pick one of those two. So it was very wrong of them to go into her purse. I dont think you or your daughter to just settle because people are saying its a lesson learnt. A lesson learnt could have also been being called to the break room and told to keep her things in a locker.
You should go to the top people and have this dealt with, there is no need for managers to think they have the right to go thought other peoples things with out them being present or having permission.
that is soo wierd i do not think that lady had any right to look through your step daughters purse.
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it may be permissable, according to the handbook, but it’s pretty f***ed up.
leaving a purse out does not seem to be a good reason to go through it. i would caution your daughter to be more careful with her belongins. there are thieves and untrustworthy people out there. unfortunately she had to learn that the hard way.
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What they did was tacky but she is the one that left her belongings out. She is lucky there was a purse or wallet when she got back. They might have gone through it to find out who it belonged to. . .If they had walked by it and done nothing and it had been stolen, then what would you be saying?
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It’s a tiny loophole, but yes they can, especially if loss prevention is involved. Many times in retail, the largest amount of theft is internal, and it could be they were checking for any merchandise because the purse was left out in the open. Obviously the manager and LP are suspicious of someone’s activities on the premises (not necessarily your step daughter’s) and that from now on keep her purse locked up.
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You and I both know that it is both morally wrong and dishonest for the manager to go through your daughter’s purse. The reason that the handbook has that clause it is is so the management have a power to search employees belongings when cases of theft are suspected. That is obviously not the situation here because if your daughter was doing anything dishonest I am quite sure she wouldn’t have left her bag hanging on a hook. The management are within their right to look through the bag legally because of the clause. The disappointing thing is that those clauses aren’t brought about so they can ‘do whatever they like’ which is what has happened here. I don’t think there is much that your daughter can do but she needs to be aware that she can not trust management and make future decisions based on that knowledge. I have no doubt your daughter is disappointed and probably even feels violated but this is the crazy world we now live in – sadly.
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well by the way you make it sound they were not trying to find something incriminating but to show her hey you may feel safe here but something could happen, I did the same thing sort of where I used to work. I always left my coat on the a hanger instead of in my locker and one day when I came back from lunch… it sucked I liked that coat very much
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my coat got stolen
No, just like stealing isn’t right even if someone leaves a car door open full of groceries, or raping a woman simply because she was walking alone down a sidewalk at night. It is not an excuse, but being careless usually BEGS attention anyway. The lady may have had nothing but good intentions to warn your daughter about the issue, so that her belongings will be protected from REAL thieves if she placed her purse in a locker.
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thats messed up
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I do not believe that anyone- manager or even loss prevention has the right to go through anyone’s belongs if they are not present. I would say if they think she was stealing Yes, they have a a right, either she can say yes, or be fired…yet she wasn’t even given the chance to pick one of those two. So it was very wrong of them to go into her purse. I dont think you or your daughter to just settle because people are saying its a lesson learnt. A lesson learnt could have also been being called to the break room and told to keep her things in a locker.
You should go to the top people and have this dealt with, there is no need for managers to think they have the right to go thought other peoples things with out them being present or having permission.
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If she is missing any belongings then she should take it to the police. They might think twice about their policy then. Just to teach ‘them’ a lesson.
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