YOU DON’T NEED TO TAKE MONEY TO FACE EMBEZZLEMENT CHARGES

The company that employs you trusts you enough to give you access to their facilities and their assets. You probably do your best to uphold that trust while also wanting to maximize the benefits that you reap from your employment.

Some people will use creative methods to increase what they take home from their job. For example, those who work at a restaurant might make a meal without paying even though the company doesn’t provide meals as a worker benefit.

While you would never even think of stealing money from your employer, you could still engage in behavior that leads to embezzlement accusations if you try to use company assets for personal gain.

NORTH CAROLINA’S DEFINITION OF EMBEZZLEMENT INVOLVES GOODS

The misappropriation of a company’s financial resources is obviously embezzlement. Anyone who commits a fraudulent transfer, writes themselves a check or steals cash could wind up facing embezzlement charges. However, under North Carolina law, the same is true of misappropriating a company’s goods.

Companies can press charges against workers who take physical items from their facilities, regardless of whether they are a retail operation or not. Taking a computer chair out of the conference room for your home office is embezzlement, just like stealing money from the petty cash drawer would be. Anything from food and office supplies to electronics and merchandise scheduled for destruction could all lead to allegations of embezzlement.

Taking items that belong to your employer to resell or use for personal gain could lead to criminal charges even if you didn’t think your employer wanted those items anymore. Understanding the different rules related to white-collar crimes can help you avoid making a potentially criminal mistake.