Is purchasing items from someone who was later discovered to have taken them from his workplace without the owners' knowledge considered participation in theft, given that the buyer was aware that the seller justified his action by unfair deductions from the employers, and is the seller's action justified?

If a person buys something and then discovers it was stolen, he must return it to its owner, and he should demand the price from the thief. This is based on the Hadith: "Whoever finds his property with a man, he is more entitled to it." The thief's claim that he took the stolen items in exchange for his right does not make purchasing from him permissible. As for the person himself, if the employers have not paid him his wages after his work, he is allowed to take only what is equivalent to his wages if he comes across their money. However, if he has agreed to the wages paid to him and he now thinks they are small, then it is not permissible for him to take anything from their money.