A GRIMSBY superstore is seeking legal action against a former employee who stole more than £55,000.
Civil action is due to take place to recoup money taken from Ramsdens by James Jennings.
The sales assistant cheated the store out of £55,300 to fund a gambling habit.
As reported, at Grimsby Crown Court, Jennings, 42, of Charles Street, Cleethorpes was ordered to pay over the £300 he had saved as "some gesture towards compensating the former employer".
He admitted two offences of fraud by making fictitious refunds in which he diverted more than £55,000 of company money into his own account.
He received a one-year suspended prison sentence and was ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work.
No other compensation order was made, meaning that the company faced writing off the loss or pursuing a civil claim.
Finance director Daryn Brookes, said the firm intended to pursue a civil case because of the extent of the loss.
He said bosses at his company were baffled why no order to pay the money back was made by the Judge Kate Buckingham.
Mr Brookes said: "We don't understand the judgement. We can't take the case any further through the criminal courts because it is a Crown Prosecution Case.
"There was a small judgement but that is in no form of recompense.
"This was a very selfish act and people here are hurt."
He said the stolen money could have been ploughed back into the business, which is performing well despite the economic downturn, although 200 staff in the retail business had been subject to a pay freeze which has been in force for around two years.
Mr Brookes said, however, it was the economic climate which was affecting the salary levels rather than the fraud case.
A Crown Prosecution Service spokeswoman said the level of compensation is a matter for the judge as to whether an order is made and for how much. There is not a correlation between the amount of the loss and the amount of the order.
She added that the CPS did make an application for compensation and the judge had taken into consideration the defendant's means to pay.
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