Exec sacked after Vegas spending wins compo

A man sacked for using his company credit card while on a three-day weekend in Las Vegas has been awarded $10,000 compensation.

Yuval Shoshany’s employment with Wellington-based 4RF was terminated in March, after he used a work credit card for more than $20,000 worth of personal expenses, according to an Employment Relations Authority (ERA) decision.

Mr Shoshany had been working for the company — which designs and produces wireless radio products — since December 2013.

He felt his dismissal was unjustified, having told the company every time he made a purchase and asked them to deduct the money from his wages. He took this claim to the authority.

Authority member Michele Ryan agreed and awarded him $10,000 in compensation for “humiliation, loss of dignity, and injury to feelings”.

Mr Shoshany, based in 4RF’s Israel office as director of global systems engineering, had travelled in May last year to the US on business.

He used the company credit card to make cash withdrawals and to purchase personal items adding up to almost US$4500.

He sent his May credit card statement to the 4RF accounts officer in an email a month later, copying in the chief financial officer and vice-president of sales, informing them of his personal purchases.

Mr Shoshany asked that they deduct the amount spent from his salary and he received a response from 4RF accounts thanking him and notifying him that the deduc- tion would be made.

Then, in early January this year, Mr Shoshany used the company credit card to pay $4584.17 to a localgovernment agency. Later that month he again travelled to the US on business, where he attended meetings in Phoenix and San Diego.

In a weekend between the two scheduled appointments he visited Las Vegas and over three days made cash withdrawals and purchased personal items using the company credit card, totalling about $11,500.

When he then tried to use the card to secure a hotel booking on February 3, it was declined.

When the company chief financial officer was told about the problem, he contacted Mr Shoshany and asked him to explain the list of recent credit card transactions.

Later that month, following a receipt of the January visa statement sent by 4RF’s head office, Mr Shoshany attached and returned the statement by email, noting: “The highlighted in yellow should be my personal transactions”.

The chief financial officer replied asking why there was $9000 of “personal transactions” that month.

Mr Shoshany explained: “Half of this is a mistake made and paid with company credit card for our local government. All the rest is purchases or cash I used while in the US last trip.”

The chief financial officer informed Mr Shoshany that he had reviewed the January and February credit card statements and the amounts of retail and cash advances: “This level of personal expenditure on the company card is unacceptable . . .”

Mr Shoshany acknow- ledged he had made a “foolish and naive mistake” and said he now realised he should have spoken to head office to ask for permission in advance.

The chief executive of 4RF wrote to Mr Shoshany in March and asked him to attend a disciplinary meeting via a Skype conference call.

A few days later, the chief executive concluded Mr Shoshany’s conduct had “damaged trust and confidence” and his actions amounted to serious misconduct, warranting summary dismissal.

Ms Ryan disagreed with the company’s decision and ordered 4RF to reimburse Mr Shoshany with three and a half months’ lost wages, and $10,000 compensation.

He could not be reinstated in his job, however, as his role within the company had since been disestablished.