A friend gave a small discount (less than £3) and has been suspended!?

she now has an internal interview with her boss to discuss the problem. she had a letter saying she could take in a union rep (not in a union) or a work collegue but isnt allowed to contact them or enter the building until the appointed time. any good advice?
Answers:
Unfortunately for your friend, if you give discount without authorisation it is considered theft.

OK, she has been suspended - not sacked. If her boss is willing to give her an interview to discuss the problem that means that he/she is willing to talk and hear her reasons.

What she needs to do is turn up at the appointed time, smartly dressed and accept any reprimand he/she may give. It would be sensible to be armed with a valid reason for doing what she did or be ready to convince the boss that it will never happen again.

It's time to eat humble pie. If she has a union rep or work colleague to back her up that would probably be seen as confrontational. If she can talk one-to-one with the boss, considering this is such a small amount - she should be able to convince him/her that she wants to keep her job and that she has learned a valuable, if humiliating lesson.

I hope this works out for her. but if it doesn't it is not the end of the world and she will not have a criminal record.
abide by the rules
Yeah. Don't give discounts when the boss is about. Unless you are the boss.
Sadly, despite the relatively small amount - she's still technically broken the rules. Staff aren't allowed to hand out unauthorised discounts, and doing so - no matter what the amount - will result in punishment of some form. Perhaps she could try and get her job back if she writes in an official apology, after all it was a relatively small amount and if she's a good member of staff they might be willing to overlook it for the sake of retaining a trained member of staff.
Don't break the rules
Contact Quantum claims Aberdeen and sue their butt
If she had permission or authority to give discounts then i'd say fight it,but if she didnt have the authority or permission then sadly she will have to face any action the the firm may decide to take over the matter.After all giving away company profits without permission is a serious issue regardless of if its £3 or £3000,it wasn't her money to give away..
She should write to the boss and say who she wants to accompany her, asking for an adjournment of the meeting for upto 5 working days (under the Employment Relations Act this is permitted in law).

I would also suggest she checks her house contents insurance as may have free access to telephone based legal advice from a qualified lawyer who can fully advise her!
My advice would be to take the internal consequences on the chin because you could both get nicked if the boss decided to call the police.
It would probably go nowhere but you'd still have to go through the fingerprinting DNA, photographing and interviews which, depending on your life experiences, might be a bit daunting.

Like I said, get your friend to try and keep it internal if possible.
offer to give it back
what and all this just for a small discount this is stupid and somebody should tell her boss this
If you're gonna break the rules, then don't get caught, and if you do get caught, face the consequences like a mature adult.

Rawlyn.
Serves her right for breaking the rules.

Maybe in her next job, she will be more careful about taking decisions that are not hers to take, and not follow her terms and conditions of employment.

Tread carefully and she might get off with a written warning.