Asked by Gary13 on 27-01-2015 18:12:12
Question posted in the General Law category relating to KwaZulu-Natal
Question posted in the General Law category relating to KwaZulu-Natal
Good evening,
I'm trying to find out what legal actions a former employer may take against me if I failed to keep a hardware dispatch file up to date. The file contains release and receipt documentation for hardware sold by the company.
Would they be able to lay criminal or civil charges? If so, what kinds of charges could I expect?
Any advice on this matter is greatly appreciated.
I'm trying to find out what legal actions a former employer may take against me if I failed to keep a hardware dispatch file up to date. The file contains release and receipt documentation for hardware sold by the company.
Would they be able to lay criminal or civil charges? If so, what kinds of charges could I expect?
Any advice on this matter is greatly appreciated.
Message from the Lawyer
Posted by Att. Patrick on 27-01-2015 18:31:45
Hi there and thank you for your question,
If you failed in your duties as an employee in keeping a hardware dispatch file up to date, then you would either be classified as being negligent in your duties, grossly negligent, or acting with a fraudulent intent.
If it is either of the first two (i.e. negligent in your duties, grossly negligent) then the company would most certainly have grounds to fire you.
But you no longer work for the company.
If your failure was part of a fraud that you were committing on the company, then the company could still lay criminal charges against you. They would need to report the matter to the police who would investigate the charges. A state prosecutor would then go through the docket and decide whether to prosecute or not. There would have to have been a fraud that was taking place, and I don't think that this applies to you based on what you said above.
If the company wanted to sue you civilly, then there would be a lot that they would need to prove in court. They would need to prove that you were acting negligently (innocent negligent acts are not enough - there has to be some deliberateness on your behalf) and also that your negligence caused the company financial harm. The company would essentially be suing you for that financial harm. They would also need to prove that a reasonable person acting in your situation would have done something different because they knew that they were acting negligently, and you didn't do that. i.e. you carried on acting negligently.
Q: Would they be able to lay criminal or civil charges? --> Criminal charges if there was fraud involved. Civil charges if no fraud, but rather negligence.
I highly doubt that the company would persue this matter unless the damages were huge, and also that the company thought that they would be able to recover the damages from you. Q: What if the company got a judgment against you for R100m - could they actually recover that from you. Most probably not, so it would be a waste.
It would also be an expensive path to travel for the company -- suing you. But maybe the company directors are that type of people?!
If there is a part of the answer which you need more advice on, or clarity please continue in this same thread instead of opening a new question.
Att. Patrick
Please remember this is a dialog if you have follow up questions please use the REPLY button and ask. If I did not answer the question you thought you were asking, please respond with the specific question you wanted answered. I hope you found my answer helpful, and you have finished asking your questions, please click on the GREEN ACCEPT button in order to mark the question as closed.
If you failed in your duties as an employee in keeping a hardware dispatch file up to date, then you would either be classified as being negligent in your duties, grossly negligent, or acting with a fraudulent intent.
If it is either of the first two (i.e. negligent in your duties, grossly negligent) then the company would most certainly have grounds to fire you.
But you no longer work for the company.
If your failure was part of a fraud that you were committing on the company, then the company could still lay criminal charges against you. They would need to report the matter to the police who would investigate the charges. A state prosecutor would then go through the docket and decide whether to prosecute or not. There would have to have been a fraud that was taking place, and I don't think that this applies to you based on what you said above.
If the company wanted to sue you civilly, then there would be a lot that they would need to prove in court. They would need to prove that you were acting negligently (innocent negligent acts are not enough - there has to be some deliberateness on your behalf) and also that your negligence caused the company financial harm. The company would essentially be suing you for that financial harm. They would also need to prove that a reasonable person acting in your situation would have done something different because they knew that they were acting negligently, and you didn't do that. i.e. you carried on acting negligently.
Q: Would they be able to lay criminal or civil charges? --> Criminal charges if there was fraud involved. Civil charges if no fraud, but rather negligence.
I highly doubt that the company would persue this matter unless the damages were huge, and also that the company thought that they would be able to recover the damages from you. Q: What if the company got a judgment against you for R100m - could they actually recover that from you. Most probably not, so it would be a waste.
It would also be an expensive path to travel for the company -- suing you. But maybe the company directors are that type of people?!
If there is a part of the answer which you need more advice on, or clarity please continue in this same thread instead of opening a new question.
Att. Patrick
Please remember this is a dialog if you have follow up questions please use the REPLY button and ask. If I did not answer the question you thought you were asking, please respond with the specific question you wanted answered. I hope you found my answer helpful, and you have finished asking your questions, please click on the GREEN ACCEPT button in order to mark the question as closed.
Answer Accepted
This answer was accepted on 27-01-2015 18:38:57
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