Should this person be fired?

I work in a small company that is media related. Recently a front office employee was tampering with her time card which resulted in getting paid for time she was not working and for doing "overtime" hours on the weekend for a job that does not require overtime. This person handles incoming and outgoing moneys, invoices, payroll checks, and company bills and is trained and proficient in our computer systems and banking. My personal opinion is that it was unethical and selfish behaviour on her part as the company is struggling financially and it also causes me great concern due to the fact that this act has proven she is capable of behaviour that could put other moneys at risk in the company for personal gain. SHe was only given a slight reprimand for the time card tampering and her overtime has been restricted to the time she is helping the office manager at end of month. This still leaves many opportunities to take advantage of the company and it's monies 5 days a week. It seems that at the very least she should have been placed in a position in the company where she is not directly dealing with money and finances for the company.

Is there anything that I and other concerned employees can do at this point in order to either have her removed from the company or removed from a position dealing with money which provides such opportunities ?

At the very least, it sounds like your organization needs to look at this person's duties related to finance. The person handling the banking needs such as making the deposits and reconciling the bank account should not also be handling the recording of incoming receipts or outgoing payments. This seperation of duties is a key concept of internal controls and helps to prevent fraudulent activity by one person. The one drawback is that it requires additional employees to split those duties which should not be shared by one person.There is plenty of information available about separation of duties on internet.

As an accountant, I see a huge red flag thrown up by the dishonest actions and a closer eye should be kept on this employee until an adequate separation of duties can be achieved.

Personal policies should be used to handle the firing issue and they may specify that a reprimand is required for the for the first offense. Considering the offense, I personally believe immediate firing would have been justified. But I'm not an attorney-just an honest accountant.

As an employee of this company, you should be very aware that anything illegal or unethical this employee does that YOU know about can reflect on YOU. You have a duty to your employer to report anything you see or have seen. If it turns out that ONE manager just above her is allowing her to get by after having been caught padding her timecard, then it should be taken a level higher... or to human resources... so that the company management understands that there is a problem swept under the rug. Your position is that you know that the economy is tight and that you want your company to succeed. You don't want to play police over a person who has already proven to be less than honest.

Be aware that often this kind of person is politically or family related to someone higher than the manager involved. You should check that out first.

Personally in this economic blundering time, I'd be afraid to risk my job on some timecard cheat who might be connected, but maybe I'd put in an anonymous typed note... typed and printed at the library.... and see if it creates any change. Send it to the top guy. Just keep in mind that anonymous notes don't usually get more than a cursory glance. If you give enough details, somebody might take it seriously.

Good luck.