A couple of months ago, I was asked to help download footage of a theft from my workplace. The footage show a staff member looking at a scarf and then taking it, placing it around her neck and walking off. This occurred at night just after the shop closed and only her and another staff member were present.
The other staff member confronted her about the scarf that night as they locked up the store but was told that the scarf was hers from home and she had owned it for a long time. It had been suspected by some staff members that this person had been stealing from the shop for some time but there was never any proof until this incident.
A lot of money, shop items and drugs had gone missing (pharmacy). In all other incidences that a member of staff had been caught stealing or being dishonest (once before I worked there and once in the six years I worked there), the staff member was immidiately sacked. The staff member in question this time was a pharmacist. I was instructed by another employee not to say anything to anyone.
I asked another pharmacist who worked with her at our store but was no longer an employee at the time I obtained the footage what she knew about the theft. The owner and store manager had a private meeting with the phamacist who commited the theft a couple of months after I pulled the footage for them. I do not know what was uncovered or what the result of the meeting was but after the meeting the pharmacist took a week off work before returning.
Last Sunday I received a phone call from the pharmacy owner. She was very angry I had dicussed this with the pharmacist who no longer worked with us, threatened to sue me for defamation and sacked me immidiately. I am also banned from the store. I had already resigned a week earlier as I had been offered a great job elsewhere and was due to finish in another week anyway so the sacking doesn't worry me much anyway.
I only discussed this incident with 3 employees (two current and the pharmacist who is now no longer employed at our store). Have I done anything wrong and have I breached any privacy laws or commited a defamation offence?
The other staff member confronted her about the scarf that night as they locked up the store but was told that the scarf was hers from home and she had owned it for a long time. It had been suspected by some staff members that this person had been stealing from the shop for some time but there was never any proof until this incident.
A lot of money, shop items and drugs had gone missing (pharmacy). In all other incidences that a member of staff had been caught stealing or being dishonest (once before I worked there and once in the six years I worked there), the staff member was immidiately sacked. The staff member in question this time was a pharmacist. I was instructed by another employee not to say anything to anyone.
I asked another pharmacist who worked with her at our store but was no longer an employee at the time I obtained the footage what she knew about the theft. The owner and store manager had a private meeting with the phamacist who commited the theft a couple of months after I pulled the footage for them. I do not know what was uncovered or what the result of the meeting was but after the meeting the pharmacist took a week off work before returning.
Last Sunday I received a phone call from the pharmacy owner. She was very angry I had dicussed this with the pharmacist who no longer worked with us, threatened to sue me for defamation and sacked me immidiately. I am also banned from the store. I had already resigned a week earlier as I had been offered a great job elsewhere and was due to finish in another week anyway so the sacking doesn't worry me much anyway.
I only discussed this incident with 3 employees (two current and the pharmacist who is now no longer employed at our store). Have I done anything wrong and have I breached any privacy laws or commited a defamation offence?
