well I cant talk about this around here irl but I can here coz none of you know who I am talking about

But

about 18 momths after we moved to our small town the secretary office lady where my hubby worked, Judy, was sacked. Head office brought new software to install on to the computers while she just happened to have been overseas on holiday in Africa on safari. Anyway the muck hit the fan and she took them to employment court. The outcome was never officially divulged, but in NZ if you sack someone without legal justification the employer ends up paying out bucket loads of cash. The employer in this situation has some 2000 staff in various small companies and are unlikely to get caught out with unjustified sacking.

However Judy went about telling everyone she got a big payout from it all. She told so many people this that the Employment Federation took out an advert in our local paper warning people from spreading untruths, no monies were paid and reminding all parties that the outcome of the case was privilaged and not legally able to be discussed.

I was not in on what exactly happened but it was quite a drama.

Another 18 months on and the manager of the company sold out his share and moved away. On his last day at work I ran into his wife and we got to yakking and she divulged the lot. Told me everything. Turns out Judy was siphoning off large amounts of cash. She was embezzelling (I wondered how she afforded the flash new car and African holidays) The manager was frustrated because Judy managed to put passwords on critical parts of the computer. She often worked late late into the night and was the only one in the office at midnight and the light could be seen on. She handled all correspondence in and all correspondence out. When ever anyone came near the computer she shut the screen down. The police were involved and said that there was a case of employee theft to answer etc. BUT the company never pressed charges as it was a small town and they had only recently aquired the business and didnt want to upset folk Judy is manipulative, scheming and dreamed up all sorts of ways to cover her tracks. The managers wife said that in reality there was a lot of money gone that they couldnt track she was pretty clever. As we parted and headed our separate ways the manager's wife said Judy had gotten a job in the next town in the same position as office administrator for a trucking company with sole signing rights on the chqs and said 'she will do it again. The company here should have pressed charges'

So anyway I file this away as interesting but didnt think much about it she is off the scene.

Anyhow remember I told you that we were applying for a part time job for Hazel and a local daycare centre. That I knew people on the board and I was confident I could get her a job. Well my girlfriend Alison took our letter and a letter from Hazel's school to the board meeting with the intention of raising our proposal. The next day (today) I phone Alison to see how the meeting went. She said she was barely able to bring it up. The meeting was really heated and went on till about 11pm. There was quite an issue over the fact that the secretary should not also be the treasurer. I asked who this person was. Alison said it was Judy. I asked Judy's last name and sure enough it was the same woman. Alison had no idea of Judy's past, and no one on the board has any clues. Because she was never prosecuted it never came out of course.

Alison tells me that Judy handles all the incoming and out going mail for the daycare, has sole signing rights on the cheque account. She effectively employs herself as she sets her hourly rate and pays herself and decides how many hours to work. She has put secure passwords on the computer and no one can get into some areas. The head teacher said that she saw an email this morning from the auditors office to say that all the accounts and bank statements from March are missing. Yet when the teacher went back and checked later to find the auditors name the email had vanished and wasnt even in the history someone deleted it. Judy has resisted a few on the board and has no intentions of giving up either role of secretary or treasurer. Alison said that a while back she complained that cleaning materials were costing $130. a month. Judy explained it all away but after that it suddenly dropped to $50 a month.

Alison says, I think I will confront her. I said dont. Judy is too clever and will wiggle out of it. I need to get Alison in touch with the managers wife even if they have moved out of town. But I reckon the police need to be involved and they have to prosecute this time if there has been embezelling etc.

Meanwhile Alison has held on to our letter. I think the Board have bigger worries than employing Hazel. Meanwhile I mentioned to hubby tonight the saga so far and he said

"Havent Judy and her Hubby just gotten back from another overseas holiday?"

It's like a tv show.

will keep anyone interested and those not posted.