Can a company I work for make me send cash through the mail?

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Can a company I work for make me send cash through the mail?

I am a hair styist working for a national company. The money that we collect goes into a money box in the salon. There is no bank account to deposite it into and I am not the manager. The company wants me to send the cash and the checks through the mail to there corporate office instead of our manager depositing them into a bank account. The transactions are not itemized… it is just cash. I feel that this sounds a bit illegal and it really is not my job to do this. I already fax them my hours and on numerous occasions, 4 or 5, they actually told me that they did not recieve the fax even though I have the fax receipt. I want to refuse them but I also do not want to get fired. Can you advise me what to do?

Asked on May 21, 2012 under Business Law, Pennsylvania

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 11 years ago | Contributor

Yes, it is legal, in the sense that 1) there is no law against mailing cash; and 2) a company can require employees to do anything that is not illegal. If you refuse to do what the company wants, they could terminate you.

It is profoundly risky, of course, since if stolen, intecepted, or lost--whether in transit or on receipt--there is no way to prove that you sent it and no way to recover the money; you could easily find yourself being sued by your employer for the actually or allegedly missing money.

It's also suspicious, in that there are few good, but many criminal, reasons why someone would want to not leave a "paper trail" of payments--but suspicous does not by itself  mean illegal.

Could you get your company to agree to allow you to keep the cash but take out  a money order, which you in turn will send them? That is a bit of a bother on your end, but is substantially safer, since you can cancel and get a refund of a stolen or lost money order in most circumstances.


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