Is it worth consulting a lawyer?

[slow06]

Cliff Notes: My mom was fired because money went missing, she was blamed. At least 1 other cashier plus the managers at the store have access to the money, the (3?) managers are the only ones with keys to actually get anything out of the safe. No proof whatsoever that she took it, it is just not there.

Long version. My mom works a cash register, usually the evening shift, another girl works the morning shift. At night she drops her till bag into the safe plus some extra money in an envelope. Accounting is supposed to count the "extra" money the next day (the next day happened to be thanksgiving). 4 work days later (6 calendar days later) she is told that some of the money in the envelope was missing, they suspend her for 2 days without pay. She calls in Monday like they told her to and she is fired.

They have no proof that she took the money, and there is 1 other cashier who has touched the bag twice. (3?) Managers of the store have keys to the safe, nobody else can open it.

Is it even worth consulting a lawyer on this? Is there anything they could do?

I know Texas is a right to work state and they can fire her for any reason they want. We don't want her old job back, we don't want any money, we just want her "name cleared" because we don't want this to effect her future job opportunities. Would she have to list specificlly why she was let go, and if they called this store for a reference can the legally talk about this?

I will admit that I am not impartial here but my mom isn't a theif, plain and simple.

This is a local store and somebody here may work there, if so please don't get involved. I don't want the store's name coming out, it isn't important. We aren't looking to make them look bad in any way, we just want her to be able to move on without consequences for something she did not do.

I appreciate any help you guys can offer.

[BUFFALOHALTOM]

no not worth it. too damn expensive for nothing to gain. after reading your post, i feel the best way to accomplish what you want is to have your mom go to her superior(who ever made the call to let her go) and say i understand that you had to let someone go over this. i can assure you it wasnt me. i dont expect to get my job back, but for future employment, i would like the opportunity to pay for a lie detector test to be performed on me by the company of your choosing with the agreement that when i pass, you will give only positive feed back to future employers. this is way cheaper than an attorney and the mere notion of it will most likely encourage her now previous employers to not make much waves

the reason your mom was fired is because situations like that, there is no real proof of who did it. but when you fire one, even if you get the wrong one, the remaining employees get the message that if you steal, you get canned.

[bcoop]

^^^ is a waste of time and money. They can't give details to future employers as to why she was let go.

All they can Legally say is Yes (or no), she was employed here from xx/xx/xxxx to xx/xx/xxxx, and yes (or no), we would (would not) hire her again.

[the spindoctor]

i wouldn't bother, there isn't anything to "win" anyway. what was the reason they gave when they fired her? just make sure she fights for unemployment, if they really had any proof the police would be involved, and if they don't have any proof then she should have no problem getting unemployment. i've never had anyone ask why a previous employee left, so clearing your name shouldn't be an issue.

[slow06]

They can't give details to future employers as to why she was let go.

All they can Legally say is Yes (or no), she was employed here from xx/xx/xxxx to xx/xx/xxxx, and yes (or no), we would (would not) hire her again.

That's what i though. It is the "would not" part I would like to avoid if possible, but I know a lawyer may not be able to do much about that.

i wouldn't bother, there isn't anything to "win" anyway. what was the reason they gave when they fired her? just make sure she fights for unemployment, if they really had any proof the police would be involved, and if they don't have any proof then she should have no problem getting unemployment. i've never had anyone ask why a previous employee left, so clearing your name shouldn't be an issue.

I agree. My dad mentioned the lawyer, I didn't think it would do any good because it is a right to work state. I asked very specifically what reason was given, I don't think she actually asked since she pretty much knew what was going on. She really doesn't want to talk about it too much right now...

Good point about getting the police involved though, that does make sense. I really think they just made an example of her, she is a pretty meek lady so it was probably the path of least resistance for them.