Legalities on a shortfall in the cash register

If, at the end of a day, a shortfall is discovered in a cash register of a shop, can the employer force employees to make up the difference out of their own pockets.
Equally so, if there is a surplus at the end of the day, should the employer divide it among the employees.

Mrs B was asked to contribute at her new job and refused the request.

Anyone know the legal position on this here in Germany?

Thanks

Derek

This happened to me a few times too, but my team decided to pay ourselves the difference, split evenly if no one was at 'fault', as it was easier than reporting it etc.

We used to keep a note of how much over/under the register was then hope it worked itself out over the next couple of days. Can't remember what we did we it didn't.

I worked at this one lawyers' office for a month then had a nervous breakdown (long story). I paid the collect on delivery costs to the mailman one day, end of the month there was a difference of DM 43.50. Everybody remembered that the trainee had been seen close to the cash box and speaking to the mailman that very day but I had to make up the difference. Sort of contributed to the breakdown.
Same thing when I worked at McDonald's - if your till was off balance you made up the difference, on commencing your employment there you signed an agreement to that effect. *
Standard procedure.

*But when I found DM 130 in the lobby I never got my 10% reward.

Thanks everyone for your help.
Have a great weekend.

They can only force her to pay for the difference if she alone was watching over the cash register (though if it went that far they would likely have to prove it was her fault). If more than one person was responsible for it, they'd have to prove who caused the shortfall - they can't just blame everyone. There can be a clause in her contract that stipulates that they are responsible HOWEVER, they would have to also be paid extra in exchange for accepting the responsibility.

If your German's good enough, look up Mankohaftung.