The trouble with instructors...

[Philosophical One]

In our Karate school we have 5 independent classes every week. (Classes where the head instructor does not attend)

Well, we have caught a senior instructor with his hand in the til, it's really concerning and it's impossible to know how long he has been stealing or even how much over the years.

We have several options.

We can keep him on and pretend nothing's wrong...

We can try to find someone to go to each of his classes and do his books..

We can fire him outright...

We can give his class to someone else...

As you can imagine there are problems with each option.

He has quite a loyal following, I'm not sure how many students we would lose if we fired him (if any) but I do know our members would whinge a lot if he was forced to leave.

He also has a daughter and son who instructs - I guess we'd lose them all if we kicked him out... They do all teach the same class where the theft has occurred so perhaps it's better to fire them all...

Has anyone else had to face this problem?

Love to hear any points of view.

Thanks.

[bushido_man96]

In my eyes, there is only one option; immediate termination and explusion, followed by criminal prosecution. If you let the guy get away with it, and keep him on, what kind of message does that send to the rest of the students?

[Philosophical One]

Wow, criminal prosecution... I never even thought of that.

I think he should be expelled outright too - trouble is we know he has/is stealing but how to prove it?

We have been suspicious of this instructor for some time now, he made sure we never saw the sign on sheets and he would present really small amounts for each class he took (like $20) That class usually makes around $170 on average.

Then because of the suspicion we made him hand in the sign in sheets so we could account for every student - see their names, what each paid etc. HE WAS NOT HAPPY that we asked...

Then a few weeks later money was missing - written on the sheet but not included in the total- $80.

Head instructor asked him what was up and he said sorry, he'd just overlooked it. And that was that.

But seriously, if we had never asked for the top of the sheet he would have pocketed the $80.

We are on to him, but we do need to prove it more difinitavely.

We are thinking seriously about hiring someone unrelated to the club to pretend to be a new student and watch the whole sign on process.

We really need to catch him leaving people off the list or not writing up sales - that's more blatant.

It's a cash business so we rely on the trust in the Blackbelts and Dan grades that the head instructor (my partner) has known for years.

It's just so hard to know what to do, the final decision isn't even up to me, but I do get to have some input.

[Zanshin]

When you refer to the lessons as "independent" ie not with the chief instructor, what exactly does that mean?

The reason why I ask is to try and work out who the fees for the lesson should be going to.

If he is an employee of the club who is receiving money from students (on behalf of the club), he should record it and receipts should be given as proof of payment. Most importantly though the money and records should be passed to the club and banked accordingly.

If however Independence means that he simply hires the club space from the club, he may have an agreement that anything he takes is his to do what he wants with. As long is he pays the hire fees, what’s left is his.

Now if he chooses not to keep accurate records of his income, he may find himself in hot water with the IRS, but that aside he may not be steeling from the club.

If in doubt go to the club secretary or treasurer and just ask.

[TigerDude]

Far too few small businesses take action against stealing employees - fear of bad publicity being a key reason. The result is that the bad eggs then are free to do the same to the next employer.

I would fire such an employee on the spot, and seek both civil and criminal redress. Surely there is another person ready to step up into an instructor role.

[bushido_man96]

If you don't have solid proof, then prosecution may be tough...but not impossible.

Even if you don't prosecute, I would still remove him from the school.

[lordtariel]

If you suspect, I recommend you gather proof. Install a hidden camera over the till, discretely check his books, keep track of your expenses. You'll have a better case of it if you can document things.

[Philosophical One]

Zanshin, he gets a cut of the money like $2 per student +10% of all sales including all new members signed up in his class.

He calculates what he is owed and gives the rest to the Head Instructor.

We pay for all the advertising, recieve and process all karate enquiries, we organise and pay for the hall hire.

He was originally providing just the bottom of each sign in sheet with the totals added up - until we got sus and asked for the tops as well.

All reciepts are given to the students - written on their training cards, but You've given me a good idea... to look at their cards.

But this guy is dishonest - he might not even be providing reciepts to the students. Who knows?

[Zanshin]

We pay for all the advertising, recieve and process all karate enquiries, we organise and pay for the hall hire.

What!! you pay for this in addition to your monthly tuition fees? If so I am in the wrong business.

All reciepts are given to the students - written on their training cards, but You've given me a good idea... to look at their cards.

But this guy is dishonest - he might not even be providing reciepts to the students. Who knows?

As a student yourself, you should know whether he is giving you a receipt or not.

On the surface, it sounds to me that this guy has an agreement with the school owner that he will pay him a percentage of the takings.

To be quite honest, as long as you are getting a decent lesson out of it and value for money, the problem is not yours.

If on the other hand you are paying for stuff you don’t get, then that’s different. Is that the case?

[whitematt]

You are working the system in reverse. All collected money should go to the head instructor. They should calculate the money owed to the teaching instructor and cut them a check.

Based on your arrangement, it might be difficult to say this is theft. He is technically not stealing, but failing to pay the proper amount to the head instructor.

It might take some work, but I would go back through the books and calculate what is owed (back dues) to the head instructor. Submit this as an invoice to the teaching instructor, and tell him that you either need to work out a payment plan - or an exit plan.