“When an employer is dealing with potential serious misconduct, be mindful of your treatment of that employee, particularly in the initial stages of investigation, as it will be scrutinized.”
So says Victoria-based labour and employment lawyer Michael Penner of Levitt LLP, after a British Columbia arbitrator reinstated a worker with full compensation after she was fired based on circumstantial and hearsay evidence of workplace theft.
The worker was a room attendant for the Aava Whistler Hotel in Whistler, BC, since 2015. Room attendants were allowed to receive tips left by departing guests in the rooms. Room attendants who cleaned a room after guests had left were entitled to the tip left in that room.
