Sam Olson is the manager of a Stop and Go convenience store. He has been employed by the company for 14 years, the last 4 years as a store manager. Sam applied for a promotion to regional manager, who oversees all 30 store locations, but was once again denied promotion. Had he been promoted, the regional manager salary would have given Sam $18,000 more per year.

Sam was upset and decided that if the company would not give him the additional compensation he deserved, then he would give himself a raise at the expense of the company. He knew that whenever he hired a new employee, the required paperwork sent to the corporate headquarters was simply filed without being reviewed. Thus, Sam completed all the company employment forms for a fictitious new employee he named "Jim Simpson." He figured that, when the company was notified by the Social Security Administration that the Social Security number for

"Jim Simpson" was fraudulent, Sam would simply report that the employee had just quit and that he had no way to contact him. Sam's scheme involved the following actions:

• He put "Jim" on the schedule.

• Every week, he submitted a signed timecard for "Jim" along with all the other legitimate employee timecards.

• Every two weeks when Sam received the employee paychecks, he pulled "Jim's" paycheck and hid it in his briefcase.

• He then cashed the paycheck for "Jim" and enjoyed the extra money.

Requirement

While Sam's actions are clearly unethical, were they justified, given that he was again denied a promotion and therefore undercompensated? Will Sam be caught?

Does the company bear some responsibility, too? If the company required direct deposit of its employee paychecks, could this type of fraud be prevented? Can you recommend any other procedures the company could adopt that would help to prevent Sam's fraud?