Commonwealth Bank employee who stole $3,000 loses unfair dismissal

A former Commonwealth Bank employee who stole $3,000 has lost his unfair dismissal claim.

Fair Work Commissioner Ian Cambridge said CCTV footage showed the personal lender “blatantly” steal the money.

He also expressed surprise that the bank failed to contact police, instead paying him three week’s salary in lieu of notice.

Commonwealth Bank employee loses unfair dismissal

The bank launched an investigation following an anonymous tip-off about suspicious activity at the Earlwood branch in Sydney.

Security footage recorded on 17 December 2017 showed the personal lender working at the counter before the branch opened.

It showed him dividing a bundle of $100 notes in to two piles – one smaller and one larger.

He then put the larger portion into the teller cash recycler machine, and took the rest to an area out of sight of security cameras.

Daily cash reports showed the branch out by $3,400 on that day – the branch manager later wrote the amount off.

What the employee said

During the investigation, the bank showed the worker the security footage.

He allegedly replied, “Now, that looks really bad on my behalf, hey?”

Despite the camera footage, he denied stealing the money and claimed he took the cash to a safe.

His lawyer argued unfair dismissal claiming “it was just ludicrous” to suggest a branch employee would steal money in front of CCTV cameras.

He described it as akin to “high stakes poker”.

But the bank said the worker had no other explanation, as the safe had been locked and he did not have the keys.

What the Commission said

Commissioner Cambridge said any reasonable, objective and careful consideration of the footage would “logically conclude that it had captured a blatant act of larceny”.

“After careful examination of the totality of the evidence, I have no hesitation in rejecting the explanation that the applicant has proffered to avoid the obvious implications of what he recognised to be his disgustingly bad conduct.”

He found the evidence “more than comfortably” passed the balance of probabilities test.

Commissioner Cambridge also said the evidence is possibly strong enough to meet the criminal standard of proof, that is, proof beyond reasonable doubt.

“Therefore, it was surprising to find that the bank had not reported the matter to the police and that it also provided the applicant with a payment of three weeks salary in lieu of notice in circumstances where it had found that the applicant had stolen money from the bank.”

He rejected the unfair dismissal claim finding the banker’s conduct was “gross and wilful misconduct” that justified dismissal without notice.

What the experts say

Miles Heffernan, Director of Litigation at IR Claims, said stealing is serious misconduct.

“Wilful and deliberate stealing from an employer normally results in instant dismissal,” he said.

“Not only that, it is also a criminal offence, so you can also expect to be charged by police.”

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