Warning letter to Employee for Theft/Stealing Company property

Stealing company properties is one of the biggest mistakes in the life of an employee. Here are three major reasons for it:

1) The employee may go to jail if the employer lodges a complaint with the police. If this news is spread in the media, then you can consider your career over.

2) If the employer decides not to go to the police, then they may charge a heavy monetary penalty on the employee. They will not be giving any experience certificate for your work tenure. They may write about the incident to some of the top companies where you may apply for a job.

3) Even if you get a job in another organisation, there is always a chance that somebody who knows about your stealing incident might tell them about it, which may lead to termination of your job.

If the company property is of very low value, then the company may let the employee off the hook by just giving him a warning.

Here is a sample of such a warning letter to an employee for stealing company's property for your reference.

TEMPLATE #1

(Only warning, no termination of job)

Ref: ________

Date: _______

To

(Name of the Employee)

(Designation)

(Department)

(Employee Code)

Sub.: Theft of Office Utilities - Violation of Code of Conduct

Dear Mr. / Ms. (First Name of the Employee),

It has come to our attention through CCTV footage, which clearly shows that you were stealing some of the office utility items from our branch office on (Date) at (Time). We do not appreciate such action from your side even though the items are of low value. It is not only a shameful act but also very professionally unethical.

You are advised to not to repeat such incidents in the future. Management will be forced to take necessary disciplinary action, if you continue to show such unacceptable acts, which may ultimately result in the termination of your employment.

This letter will be placed on your personnel employment file. Please acknowledge receipt of this letter by signing one copy of the letter as enclosed herewith.

Sincerely,

    (Signature)

(Name of the Officer)

(Designation, Department)

TEMPLATE #2

(Warning plus termination of job)

Ref: ________

Date: _______

To

(Name of the Employee)

(Designation)

(Department)

(Employee Code)

Sub.: Stealing of Company Property - Violation of the Employee Code of Conduct

Dear Mr. / Ms. (First Name of the Employee),

You are aware that on (Date) a laptop was reported stolen from _________ Department of our company. We have carried out the investigation process in this regard including checking of CCTV footages. The evidence clearly suggests that you are to be held responsible for this theft.

You are hereby directed to produce the laptop by the end of the working hours i.e. ____pm of (Date) in the same condition as before. As per the company policy, a monetary penalty of half-month's salary is to be deducted from your pending payments. Further, the event will be reported to the police.

We strongly suggest that you produce a written affidavit signed by you to the effect that you admit the stealing of the company property and you will not repeat any such action in the future. On production of such an affidavit, we might forgo the reporting of this event to the police. Please do not fail to take appropriate action as mentioned above by the given time i.e. by ____pm of (Date).

Further, please note that as per the company policy, such acts by employees lead to termination of their employment. Hence, your employment with the company is hereby terminated with immediate effect. Balance salary payment after adjustment of the penalization amount will be credited to your bank account. We hope you would not repeat such acts in future with your future employers.

This letter will be placed on your personnel employment file. Please acknowledge receipt of this letter by signing one copy of the letter as enclosed herewith.

For (Name of the Company),

    (Signature)

(Name of the Officer)

(Designation)