Woman must repay employer for ‘time theft’

A British Columbia woman has been ordered to pay $1,500 in restitution to her former employer, who she accused of “time theft” because she allegedly didn’t complete her posted hours at work.

Carly Besse, a remote accountant, claims she was fired without cause and is seeking $5,000 in damages from her former company for unpaid wages and severance.

However, according to a BC Civil Resolution Tribunal decision, her ex-employer, Reach CPA Inc., said she was fired for time theft. Saying that, her argument backfired.

According to the company, Ms. Besse declared 50.76 hours on his timesheets, but this could not be assigned to work after the accountant verified the TimeCamp program installed on the computer.

“Reich stated that its analysis of Besse’s timesheets and TimeCamp data identified discrepancies between its timesheets and software usage logs. Access the submitted videos showing how TimeCamp tracks Besse’s weather and activity. According to Reich, the videos prove that Besse committed time theft by recording work hours on his timesheets that were not tracked by TimeCamp,” read Wednesday’s decision.

The ex-employee was ordered to pay approximately $2,460 to the company or $1,506.74 in reimbursement for time off work and the remainder to pay court costs.