Can i collect unemployment if i have been fired for someone elses money coming up short?

by Steven
(Hopkinsville , KY)

I was the manager at a local gas station. I work the 1st shift of the day and when my shift is complete I am responsible for taking the previous day's 2nd shift and my current days 1st shift to the bank and verifying that the shifts balance.
My station was under a routine audit when my supervisor counted the previous day's 2nd shifts money, in which i had no access to. He notified me that the shift was forty dollars short.
After contacting the two workers that manned that shift, they said they had no knowledge of how they were short.

I was fired after completing the shift i was currently working, and the reason they gave me was "unable to control shortages" even though i was not present during the shift that came up short and had no access to the money.


Hi Steven,

Any prior warnings?

I guess the second question I would ask an employer and will ask you now .. since you were the manager .. did the employer have a procedure in place that would allow you to address a shortage from the 2nd shift when you were doing the balancing?

I understand why the 2nd shift people might be fired after proper warnings or an investigation that proved theft, but to hold someone .. even a manager responsible for an act or mistake made by a subordinate doesn't make sense to me unless they were provided with tools or procedures to control things that happened while you weren't working.

I think you should start by reading the policy for cash handling. Is there a requirement of you that you failed to adhere to that the employer could use to justify a termination for "unable to control shortages. I know a manager can be denied benefits for violation of policy regarding shrink, but I think this is a little different.

Chris