Store manager who tried to fleece employee over lambskin jackets ends up out in the cold

Alvi v. YM Inc., 2003 CarswellOnt 3386 (Ont. S.C.J.)

Moezzam Saeed Alvi was a district manager responsible for a number of Stitches outlets (owned by YM Inc.) In addition to his fixed salary of $30,000 a year, he was entitled to a monthly bonus as long as inventory shrinkage was kept under one per cent of cost. When two lambskin jackets went missing from the Windsor, Ont., store under his management, he was concerned.

He suspected the store’s assistant manager, Tina, and told her she would have to pay for the missing coats, worth more than $200 each. This would ensure that the coats would not be missing from the inventory count and therefore wouldn’t impact his bonus.

Alvi let his boss know about the situation, and his suspicions about Tina. His boss told Alvi to call the store back and rescind the order. In the meantime, Tina wrote a letter to head office complaining about having to pay for the coats. Head office looked into it, and Alvi admitted he had ordered her to pay.

Shortly after that, Alvi asked for, and was given, a week off without pay to look after his three children while his newborn was having an operation to remedy a birth defect. Thirteen days later, Alvi was fired for cause.

The court decided YM had cause to terminate Alvi and ordered YM to pay Alvi $1,850 in unpaid salary, $5,563.68 in unpaid bonus and $600 for his car allowance – a total of $8,013.68.

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