Has a corporation ever sued an employee for failing to do their jobs?

In particular, the company sues the employee to get back the money
they paid that person while they did no work at all.  The idea is
similar to that of: Johnson is late, Boss says to Johnson, "You're
late, that's the same as stealing from the company."

Is there a precedence for this type of suit?

Any articles or rulings would be appreciated.

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 01 Mar 2005 07:43 PST

I would think the answer to your question is "No".

Lateness isn't the same as stealing.  If an employee is late, a
company can dock his/her pay.  If an employee is lazy, the company can
fire them.

With these powers at a company's disposal, I can't imagine a court
willing to entertain a lawsuit against a single underperforming
employee.  Only with some sort of a mass-action -- group "laziness"
induced by a union slow-down, for instance -- could I see a court
intervening.

If you can tell us a bit more about your interest in this particular
topic, perhaps we can shed some additional light on it.

pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by markocmu-ga on 01 Mar 2005 10:14 PST

I'm hearing that the solution to this is to simply fire the person. 
We plan on doing this soon.  But what I'm wondering is if we can take
the person to court for the past ammounts paid when no actual work was
done.  The case here is that the person was given a salary, and was
expected to work independantly and dilligently, and did not do this. 
I consider it equivilent to stealing, as services were "purchased",
but never recieved.

Basically, I want a refund from this employee.

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 01 Mar 2005 11:23 PST

If I may be so bold, you're offering a "salary" here of $10, and
requesting a fairly in-depth piece of legal research.

You might want to consider offering a raise...!

And if you do, please let us know where you're located, so we can
research legal cases relevant to your jurisdiction.

Thanks.

paf

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Clarification of Question by markocmu-ga on 01 Mar 2005 14:13 PST

Oh really, don't worry about it.  I am mainly just curious.  If you
found an article easily enough then let me know, otherwise, don't
waste your time.

Wonderful place to work.  Are you accepting resumes?

In fact, we are...

I would believe such a thing unconstitutional, since being late or
poor in performance is by no means a criminal act, neither is it a
serious offence that deems court action. It would also be a waste of
effort and money, personally speaking.

The proper and legal action that is expected in these events is
separation of employment: termination.

If you allowed this to continue for quite some time, there should have
been written warnings signed by the employee, making the employee
aware of your knowledge of the events, resulting in termination when
the behavior continued.

If the person is on salary you may not deduct any wages from the last
pay period, however if the person is hourly, and there is
documentation to show the person DID NOT work the amount of hours on
the timecard (someone else was punching his/her timecard, then you can
deduct the time in question, however the employee may go to your local
labor board, in which case you would have to spend MORE time and money
defending your action/deduction.

The best course for you to follow is to fire the employee, and move on.

markocmu
If the individual involved was doing no work whatsoever then possibly 
I sympathise with your dilemma. I do have to ask though what on earth
his BOSS was doing all this time?  This after all is what managers get
paid for. Perhaps you should sue his/her manager as well (for not
doing THEIR job??)

Regards
DPRK007