I Caught My Employee Stealing — What Really Happens When You Report Workplace Theft (2025)

Good Jobis Slate’s advice column on work. Have a workplace problem big or small?Send it to Laura Helmuth and Doree Shafrir here. (It’s anonymous!)

Dear Good Job,

I’m a department head at a mid-sized company, and I’m struggling with how to handle a situation that feels like a serious breach of ethics.

One of my employees charged a personal subscription to the company credit card for a substantial number of months, and I caught it during an audit. She’s also extended her hotel stays beyond the approved dates during work events, and billed room service and other extras to the company—in clear violation of our travel policy. These aren’t isolated incidents. She’s done it multiple times.

To me, this crosses the line into embezzlement. At the very least, it’s a serious misuse of company funds and a breakdown of trust. I recommended that she be terminated, and the boss said no. I then recommended administrative leave so a full investigation can be completed. I also asked that she be moved back to hourly pay so she can’t continue to steal hours, and that her travel privileges be revoked. My boss—who is also an officer of the company—thinks a five-day suspension with no other consequences is sufficient.

Here’s where it gets worse: This employee is already toxic in the workplace. She lies on her timecard, gossips, undermines co-workers, and generally doesn’t have the skills or professionalism to do her job. Her work quality is horrible, she constantly blames others, and she creates drama wherever she goes. Most of the team avoids her.

I’ve worked hard to build a high-functioning, respectful environment, and this situation is exhausting. I feel like I’m being asked to overlook fraud and accept dysfunction for the sake of convenience. My boss seems unwilling to act decisively, and I don’t want to come off as insubordinate—but I also don’t want to compromise my values or lose the respect of my team. Am I overreacting, or is this a legitimate human resources crisis? How can I advocate for real accountability without damaging my relationship with my boss—or my own credibility?

—Leading a Drama Department I Didn’t Audition For

Dear Leading a Drama Department I Didn’t Audition For,

Oof. Good for you for uncovering the misuse of company funds and reporting the problem to your boss. The five-day suspension has presumably already happened, and the employee will probably not misuse the company credit card or expense reports in the future (or will get more clever about it). The outcome wasn’t everything you wanted, but you’ve started an important process. If the employee learns from the experience and re-dedicates herself to the job, fine. If she continues to break rules, you’re one step closer to getting her, as human resources says, “terminated.”

Speaking of HR, they must have been involved in the five-day suspension process. Ask the representative who worked with you on that to share, in general terms, what constitutes a fireable pattern of offenses and how you should document them. Documentation is the key. It’s difficult—as it should be—to fire someone for being annoying or gossipy, but you may be able to track specific violations of company policy. Inaccurate time cards, missed deadlines, incomplete work, and other problems should be quantifiable and documentable.

Insubordination is more difficult to establish, but whenever the employee is disruptive to you or other colleagues, keep a record of it. Human resources might recommend a performance improvement plan (PIP), which gives the employee a period of time (typically a few months) to demonstrate progress toward specific goals, with the understanding that termination is an option if they don’t improve sufficiently.

You’re right to identify two problems: your disruptive employee, and your avoidant boss. Some companies make it difficult to fire people, which can be protective for the worker in question but is typically motivated by a fear of lawsuits rather than a commitment to labor rights. Your boss seems to dislike drama, which is understandable. Take that as a data point and make your next steps in this process calm, pragmatic, and exceedingly factual. Don’t trouble your boss with reports of the employee being annoying. Do go to your boss with specific violations of company policy—and start the conversation reluctantly. Assume the attitude that you don’t want to add to your boss’s aggravation, but this problem is growing, and you would like help solving it. Let your boss conclude that it’s more hassle to appease this employee than to put them on a PIP and perhaps let them go.

In the meantime, try to minimize the damage this employee does to the rest of your team. When she blames someone else for her mistakes, make it clear to that person and the rest of the group that the blame-target is not responsible for the problem, and you support them. You can’t share details about confidential human resources actions, but you can imply a lot by letting your other team members know that you appreciate their respectfulness and professionalism.

Dear Good Job,

I’m a software engineer and I work on an application that has modules for specific purposes— think projects, risks, assets, etc. I successfully support multiple teams’ modules. However, one particular team constantly reports that the app/module is broken. Often, something they did causes the break. Most recently, they were locking down external folders so the application couldn’t connect to them. I told them not to do that.

The problem is they often escalate the issue by “looping in” their vice president and our director. I find the problem and then send an email advising how it broke and what not to do in the future. They respond by saying I’ve never told them that before, essentially throwing me under the bus.

I’ve written, published, and shared documentation about all of this. I have the emails to prove I did tell them … every time. I typically hit reply all, attach the original discussion, and note that here’s the previous conversation about X. I do not say I told you so. I keep the language neutral and non-accusatory. Yet, it still feels petty to send the original conversation, knowing the VP/director will also see that they made a mistake. If I don’t send it, then it appears I messed up. I do think there is some subtle misogyny involved, as I’m female and everyone on the team and in management is male. To top it all off, they are never grateful when I fix what they broke. Is there a more diplomatic way to deal with a team always looking for a scapegoat?

—Not the Goat

Dear Not the Goat,

For anyone who doesn’t know this already: CCing someone’s bosses on a complaint is a brat move. (CCing bosses when you praise someone is appropriate and good.) This situation certainly isn’t fun for you, but I hope it is amusing for everyone else to observe from a safe distance: This team keeps making foolish mistakes and blaming you for it, and then receiving patient explanations, for an audience of their own creation, of how they created the problem after being told how not to.

You’ve been professional throughout, but I’m sure you must be getting sick of the same sad scenario. It’s not a great use of your time! It’s also a stupid use of their VP’s and your director’s time and inboxes. They don’t need to see this nonsense.

You can try the egalitarian route first and approach the team directly. If there’s a team leader, or if one person is starting most of these email chains, try them first. Say you’ve noticed a pattern of them escalating problems that can be solved with a quick call or direct email, rather than looping in a lot of people. Encourage them to contact you directly and solely. Offer to have a meeting with that team to review how the application works and answer questions about their team’s modules.

But, realistically, you’re dealing with a team full of people who blame you for every problem and don’t thank you for your work. You’ll probably have to escalate the issue. I’m not sure from your letter whether the director they’re looping in is your boss. If so, tell them you notice that some of these tech problems you’re solving involve a lot of emails back and forth as you diagnose what’s wrong and show them how they caused it. Say you don’t want to clutter up your director’s inbox. Should you un-CC them? Would they like you to set up a more efficient system for reporting tech problems? Email seems a little archaic for this purpose, since there are plenty of project management tools that let teams put in trackable help tickets. Let the director know you’re working on training that team so you can prevent future user errors.

If the CC’d-in director isn’t your boss, go to your boss first and explain what’s been happening on these email chains from hell. Ask whether you or your boss should approach the director (or the other team’s VP) to have basically the same conversation as above. A lot of organizations prefer communication to go from one level in the hierarchy to the next, so don’t bypass your boss. When you speak with your boss and/or director, include your observation that other teams don’t have the same problems with the application and don’t send fire alarms across the organization when they do, so you know this is solvable. You don’t need to be as petty as the CC-everybody team is, but you’ve earned the right to be a little petty.

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Dear Good Job,

This is a low-stakes question, but after only coming into the office once a week post-pandemic, our company is now upping the requirement to three times a week. I’m frankly not very happy about this—I would say most of my colleagues aren’t. One small thing I think could make me feel a little better is actually investing in making my space at work feel comfortable and more me—and not just the completely empty desk it currently is, save my extra monitor. Any suggestions for how to make my space feel more comfortable and inviting to distract myself from this unfortunate change?

—Anywhere But My Cubicle

Dear Anywhere But My Cubicle,

Oh, this is a fun question! I’m sorry you have to commute and dress properly below the video-screen-line for two additional days a week. Making your office space more welcoming and comfortable is a great way to adapt. Start with things you already have: plants, photos, a favorite mug. If you can afford to, give yourself a budget for fun new things. Support your local artists by buying original art, like desktop sculptures, wood carvings, or hand-blown glass. Depending on your ceiling, you might be able to hang a mobile. I keep a plastic Triceratops skeleton on a bookshelf where it looms over my head. If your workspace has walls or half-walls, hang a painting. Photos of nature scenes can be a comfort when you’re stuck indoors.

You ask about how to make your workspace more inviting for yourself, but consider how to make it more inviting for your co-workers, too. Does your workspace have a ledge where you can display things, or is there a communal tabletop? If so, bring in art books or humor books for others to leaf through when they need a break. Look for toys and puzzles you could share. Bring in a candy jar and keep it stocked. Most people aren’t happy about trudging to the office, but your conversation pieces and snacks can cheer people up. Friendly colleagues are the best distraction from the stupor of office life.

—Laura

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