How much can I turn termination for theft into a resignation?

[Jakparady]

Minnesota

I was fired yesterday for theft: described as taking a product and consuming it without paying for it. This product was due to be written off in the morning, and I took it the night before, after everyone had left. I've worked at this place for 4.5 years, without a single write-up or negative review. I was the manager on duty (MOD) and worked well with everyone. Recently, the part time MOD (due to a workplace relationship) was offered the choice of transferring to another store as a lead (demotion) or quitting. She quit. After I was fired, it began to look to me like I had been eliminated for the same reason; my job title. I believe they have a pattern of manufacturing reasons to eliminate higher-paid or unwanted employees. Along with this, their policy on taking write-offs at the end of the night is inconsistent; as employees take bread and bakery goods every night in the same manner that I took my item.

My questions:
Can I turn this around, and make them record my termination as a resignation instead? Good performance and the seriously minimal harm of the "theft" make me think they owe me more than that.

If requesting the chance to resign does not work, can I request that they change the termination reason to "unauthorized use of store funds or property"? This seems less drastic and like less of a black mark on my record.

Can I ask to see proof that I took the item? If they were looking for a reason to get rid of the other MOD, they may have been searching unreasonably hard for something to fire me over.

Thank you for any help anyone is willing to give.

 

[Ohiogal]

Minnesota

I was fired yesterday for theft: described as taking a product and consuming it without paying for it. This product was due to be written off in the morning, and I took it the night before, after everyone had left. I've worked at this place for 4.5 years, without a single write-up or negative review. I was the manager on duty (MOD) and worked well with everyone. Recently, the part time MOD (due to a workplace relationship) was offered the choice of transferring to another store as a lead (demotion) or quitting. She quit. After I was fired, it began to look to me like I had been eliminated for the same reason; my job title. I believe they have a pattern of manufacturing reasons to eliminate higher-paid or unwanted employees. Along with this, their policy on taking write-offs at the end of the night is inconsistent; as employees take bread and bakery goods every night in the same manner that I took my item.

My questions:
Can I turn this around, and make them record my termination as a resignation instead? Good performance and the seriously minimal harm of the "theft" make me think they owe me more than that.

If requesting the chance to resign does not work, can I request that they change the termination reason to "unauthorized use of store funds or property"? This seems less drastic and like less of a black mark on my record.

Can I ask to see proof that I took the item? If they were looking for a reason to get rid of the other MOD, they may have been searching unreasonably hard for something to fire me over.

Thank you for any help anyone is willing to give.

You were fired for being a thief. You have admitted you took something without paying for it. They owe you nothing.
They could actually report your theft to the police and see about pursuing criminal charges. And don't say the item was only worth a dollar. It doesn't change the fact that you stole it. You are not in a position to make demands quite frankly.

 

[Eekamouse]

Did you violate company policy when you stole the item? I think the answer is yes. You knew the policy and ignored it. You were a manager and that's not the example any company wants their employees to see from higher ups. You should have used your common sense instead of your sense of entitlement.

 

[Jakparady]

Did you violate company policy when you stole the item? I think the answer is yes. You knew the policy and ignored it. You were a manager and that's not the example any company wants their employees to see from higher ups. You should have used your common sense instead of your sense of entitlement.

The inconsistent policy is part of my question, however I do greatly understand the "example" portion, however no one knows but myself and the store manager..

 

[cbg]

Can I turn this around, and make them record my termination as a resignation instead? There is no law you can invoke that will force them to record it as a resignation. You can ask; they are free to refuse.

If requesting the chance to resign does not work, can I request that they change the termination reason to "unauthorized use of store funds or property"? Once again, you can ask; there is nothing you can do to force them to agree.

Can I ask to see proof that I took the item? You can ask; they can refuse.

Are you seeing a recurring theme here?

 

[Eekamouse]

The inconsistent policy is part of my question, however I do greatly understand the "example" portion, however no one knows but myself and the store manager..

Oh I see and that somehow makes what you did "okay" because no one else saw you do it? You just demonstrated to the store manager that you cannot be trusted.

 

[commentator]

Okay, I have seen this situation from both ends here. If they were trying to get rid of the person, then what would not have been an unusual thing for them to do, eg. take the item the day before it was to be placed out to be taken, may not have been something an ordinary employee would not have thought it was not all right to do, may not have been complete intent to be a thief and desperate character.

It depends on precedent, situation, and what was going on there at the company. But what I would do if I were this OP is file for unemployment. Forget about getting them to agree that you resigned. That doesn't look a lot better on a work history than termination. Realistically your next possible employer may understand that people are terminated all the time for any number of reasons, some of which may be less than genuine. Having "resigned" from your job of some duration isn't going to look significantly better on a resume than being terminated. So stop worrying about this. As others have pointed out, there's no device by which you can FORCE them to say you resigned when you were terminated.

However, I suggest that you IMMEDIATELY file for unemployment insurance benefits. Tell them EXACTLY what happened. DO NOT tell them you resigned, in any size shape or fashion. Tell them exactly what happened. They'll ask a lot of pertinent questions. In order to keep you from being approved to draw unemployment benefits, the employer must show they had a valid, provable work related reason to terminate you. They'll go into whether or not this was a policy, whether or not you knew that if you were caught doing this you'd be fired, etc.

If they were searching for a reason to terminate, and decided to claim you stole something when you really didn't, based on what had been the general practice (and this is quite common, actually) this will come to light in the investigation of your termination that the unemployment system will do.

May never come to anything else, but it will definitely be better for you, you'll get to draw unemployment benefits if approved, and it will be something that you'll have to back yourself up when you are applying for other jobs. You'll say something like, "I was terminated after xxx years of good service at this employer, they tried to say that I had violated a company policy, but I had not" or something like this.

Resigning isn't a good alternative unless you had another good job to go to or a good reason to resign. Letting you resign in lieu of being fired isn't an improvement, it's just something they do to keep you from getting unemployment benefits. Employers actually love it when you say you resigned, because that eradicates the possibility of their being charged for your drawing unemployment benefits, which may happen if they fired you without a real good cause.