A man handed me 40 dollars he found on the ground on the walkway during a busy day at work. I kept the money available under the till in case someone came to pick it up, but after 3 or 4 hours no one returned. In the end I decided to put the money in my pocket and continue with the day. I feel really bad now. If I return it, I may get fired which I don't want, but if I don't say anything the consequences will either probably be the same anyway or I may get away with it. I made a mistake, and am definitely not happy with my actions. What should I do?

If no one has come back to say it was missing and you cannot contact the person who found it donate it to a charity if that will help your conscience.

Hello sam:

We're talking CASH here... If you HAD given it to your employer, what do you think THEY would have done with it?? They would have KEPT it, of course, just as you did - and they would NOT feel guilty about it, I can assure you. Why should THEY have it and not you? Because it was THEIR FLOOR?? Cash can't be traced. Spend it, and feel NOTHING except ahead.

excon

Keeping the money will work, as excon suggests.

But, since we are all about legal answers here, this is my analysis:

The man who found the cash would have been within his rights to keep the money. It is a matter of "finders, keepers" essentially. But he didn't. Instead, he gave it to you, as an agent of the company for which you work. Legally speaking, it was given to your company in trust for the benefit of whoever lost it.

I am assuming the company doesn't have a "lost and found" policy to cover such things. The policy, if it did exist, might provide that found cash would be held for so many days and, if no one asks about it, it can be disposed of in a certain manner: charity, whatever.

You might ask your company to establish such a policy (strictly hypothetically, of course). Or, to avoid the questions that might arise in bringing it up, you might want to, in the future, tell a finder "I'm sorry, but we do not accept lost and found cash. Do what you have to do".