Problems with ex-employee

[aquamarin]

Weird question, but this is the second time in 3 years that it has happened..............

One of our staff members gave his keys to a colleague yesterday morning, announcing that he was leaving. He never told the owner or me (manager) that he wanted to leave or even complained that he wasn't happy, had "smuggled" his dive gear plus a large unpaid retail item out of the shop while we were gone. We can see now that he planned this for a couple of weeks already. By the time the colleague informed us, he was already gone (to the airport apparently) and doesn't reply to emails and/or phone calls. He owes us a fairly large amount of money (I know, we shouldn't help our staff when they ask for money). Now we have looked at a couple of his student record files and have found shocking things, meaning we are having to q&a him as well

Last time it happened, we filed a police report and we reported it to Padi, who didn't do anything despite the fact that there is a warrant for his arrest in the UAE (that employee had stolen a lot of money from a colleague as well as us). The next 3 places he worked, fired him for misconduct before we found him/them. A couple of months ago he was Padi instructor of the month

I am not sure whether or not I can look for him here on SB? It is a closed forum, but on the other hand we could probably be accused of slandering? What would you do in my situation? How do you warn other dive centres of the "rotten apples" out there?

Advice much appreciated.......

Thanks
Karin

 

[Quero]

Oh Karin, how terrible for you!

First of all, if you have the make,model and serial number of the stolen property, go to our Lost/Found/Stolen forum and list it.
Have you filed a police report?

 

[Rogersea]

This is not in any way a personal attack:

I think it is bad business policy to air dirty laundry on public forums.....

It is also unwise to hint at peoples identities when making disparaging remarks about them(prior employee)

I think that facebook may/can be useful in tracking him down.

If his student records were sloppy for an extended period of time, I would use that as a lesson learned on supervising instructors...


Cheers,
Roger

File a police report.
Cheers,
Roger

 

[aquamarin]

Thanks for your feedback. I have now learned that he has done the same with a couple of other companies before, so it's obviously a pattern; not a one-time event. Unfortunately, I don't know where he is working now, so I have no way of warning his new employer. I know it's business and we shouldn't take it personal, but I can't stop myself from being massively disappointed: he abused our kindness and generosity

Guess we'll implement more thorough checks prior to employing anyone. And no more lending money to or postponing payment from staff.

We'll still take our staff for dinner after the night dives though - so I'm off for an Indian curry now
Karin