Looking for advise from someone that may have had a similar situation. One employee witnessed what could have been a "drug deal" between another employee and an individual on bank property. They saw an exchange of an item and an envelope. They said they saw cash in the envelope. Is this enough information to confront the employee involved? How do you handle the situation without accusing someone of illegal activity? The "talk" is that some employees have suspicions of this employee but there has been nothing concrete to go on. Any help is appreciated.

Was this interaction before, during, or after business hours?

during

Do you have the transaction on your security video?

From the post only an "envelope (I do not know how it was determined to be cash) and an Item". You do not know what the item is. There is no law that I know of where you can not ask the person about a transaction on the banking premise without accusing.

If it was on bank property during business hours, I'd just ask them what they were doing and advise them that personal business needs to be taken care of during non-business hours and off site. I wouldn't put much stock into the watercooler gossip, as you really don't know what personal issues other office staff may have this person or what lengths some people will go to in order to hurt another person. If you are overly concerned that the rumors might be true, conduct some account review to see if there are any unusually large deposits and/or order some drug testing, provided your policy provides for it.

We do not have a drug testing policy. The "transaction" took place outside the view of our cameras. We have monitored the account and have reviewed some transactions which include consecutive cash withdrawals from the ATM. However at times we all have need of cash from the ATM so that could be explained. It was observed that the individual handed the employee a sock. The employee then handed an envelope and the sock back to the individual. The sock was then left in an ashtray by the door. The employee observing this while walking up the sidewalk then saw the individual counting cash from the envelope. As I said earlier, there have been suspicions of this employee in the past but nothing has violated policy nor seem to have affected their performance enough to document in a review.

Maybe advise the witnessing employee to make an anonymous tip to the police. I don't know that the bank should get involved if the bank has no concrete evidence. If the witnessing employee is that concerned they should alert the authorities, not put the onus on the bank to make the call.

Just my 2 cents....

While I would definitely inquire about the incident, I would be hesitant to accuse someone of doing drugs without more evidence. As Dani indicated, some people hold grudges and will go very far to hurt another person. If you're satisfied with the response from the employee and already monitoring the account, I'm not sure what else can be done.