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Can I fire an employee who has had a cash register shortage everyday?

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An employee at our family business has been short on cash register everyday. He also falls asleep on the job, is late, and had been caught stealing money from the office and stealing merchandise. We had a verbal employment agreement, but now want to write up a contract and have him sign it. If he refuses to sign the contract can we fire him?

2 Attorney Answers

In California, you can fire an employee for any reason or even no reason at all, as long as you are not firing the employee for an unlawful motive, such as their race, religion, etc. However, in improper motive can be read into your action, so you need to be careful.
Good luck to you.
Be careful, but I'd skip the contract thing. You can fire an employee for any reason or no reason under California law. If you write up a contract, you can take yourself out of at-will employment world, and then get sued for breach of contract when you fire the guy. Just fire him for cause (the cause being theft), but also have an employment attorney in mind to call if the guy gets a lawyer and tries to sue you.

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