An ex-employee must reimburse part of the stolen funds

Release date: October 3, 2017

An employer sued an ex-employee in order to obtain reimbursement of part of the funds that she illegally embezzled during her employment. The employee was a Senior Administrative Assistant and, as such, was in charge of getting clients to pay and of handling bank deposits. The employee falsified entries in the employer’s accounting software so that payments made in cash were recorded as payments made by debit card, in order to appropriate these payments. According to the employer, the employee thus embezzled over $22 000, though the claim was reduced to $15 000 in order to be able to refer the matter to the Small Claims division of the Quebec Court. Having examined the employee’s defence, the Court pointed out that the burden of proof in civil cases is less stringent than that which is required in criminal cases. Looking at the balance of probabilities, the employee did indeed embezzle the missing funds. She was therefore sentenced to reimburse her ex-employer in the amount of $15 000.

7841531 Canada Inc. v. Hamel-Desjardins, 2017 QCCQ 1906, Justice Steve Guénard


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