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- Mar 13, 2004
I read this in the paper earlier today. A big
to Safeway. They eventually re-hired the man, but he and his family had to put up a fight for him to get hisjob back. I understand that there are zero tolerance policies in place to take care of employees who are in fact stealing from the store. but this was flatout mean. To me, it seemed like they were looking for any small reason to get rid of the guy. This was beyond OD. A simple mistake, and he was let go w. thequickness. An 18 year employee at that....here's the article....I'll bold some of the important parts for those of you who want to skim through.
[h1]A Snack, a Slip And a Second Chance[/h1] [h2]Store Offers to Take Back Worker Fired Over a Doughnut and Milk[/h2]
Michael Holland was working the deli counter at a Safeway in Damascus in January when a manager told him to take a short break. On his way, he picked up a glazed doughnut from the bakery department and a small carton of milk from the dairy case.
Holland, who struggles with physical disabilities and some slowness in cognitive processing, returned to the deli without paying. He says he did not realize his mistake until a manager asked for a receipt. Holland apologized, he said, and explained he had been preoccupied and rushed. The break was less than 10 minutes, he said.
"I forgot. There was so much going on, a lot of stress, and I just wasn't thinking," he said.
His failure to pay for his $1.78 snack brought Holland's nearly 18-year career at Safeway to a sudden halt. In the eight weeks that followed, Holland, the primary breadwinner for his wife and four children, was suspended, ordered to pay for the food, fined $50 and fired.
Yesterday, after a meeting with Local 27 of the United Food and Commercial Workers and inquiries by The Washington Post, Safeway offered to reinstate the 37-year-old worker. Safeway officials said they will make an exception to their "zero tolerance" policy against employee theft because of Holland's disabilities and his long-standing service with the company.
Safeway officials said that the store, like many other groceries, operates with a narrow profit margin -- 1 to 2 percent -- and takes a hard line on theft, no matter how small. That position, worker advocates say, can mean a big price for a small mistake and makes it hard to separate an honest lapse from criminal behavior.
In Holland's case, his family said it was especially tough because he is a worker with disabilities, making it difficult to find another job, especially one comparable to his Safeway position, which paid more than $17 an hour. Holland was born with deformities to his hands and feet and unusual facial and head features. He also has scoliosis and the slowness in cognitive processing, which is most pronounced when he is under stress, they said.
"I am very happy," Holland said yesterday of the reinstatement offer.
Holland's family shared his relief. "I'm ecstatic about the outcome," said Sandra Holland-Handon, his aunt. The details are to be worked out Monday, she said. It could be tricky because he will not be assigned to the same store and he does not drive. "I just don't want him to be penalized, given what he has already been through," she said.
Several days earlier, she had said the firing "was like a death sentence for our nephew. The management has to understand who they are really working with."
The day of the incident, Holland was struck with fear, he said. He signed a statement of admission, he said. He did not ask for a union representative. A week later, he was called back to sign a second admission of guilt and pay the $50 fine.
The union found out about his case two weeks after the fact. "I was pretty much trying to listen to what my manager wanted me to do," said Holland, who had been waiting to be called back to work.
His extended family tried to intervene, but Holland had no copy of his statements to Safeway, no paperwork at all.
His aunt called Safeway offices more than a dozen times, she said, trying to explain Holland's disabilities and get someone to hear the human side of the story. He had worked at Safeway since shortly after high school graduation. Now, heading a family of six, he was struggling to pay bills without his paychecks.
Steven Holland, Michael's uncle, said he drove to the chain's Lanham offices Feb. 8 and waited for two to three hours in a lobby but was unable to see anyone.
"This is not just his job but his whole life," Steven Holland said. "He cannot just go get a job."
The letter that ended Holland's career was dated Jan. 31 and postmarked Feb. 19. It arrived Feb. 20, with just one sentence: "This is to inform you that as a result of a security investigation, your employment with Safeway has been terminated."
"One sentence, after 18 years," said Holland-Handon, his aunt.
"We just cannot fathom this," said his uncle, emphasizing $1.78 was involved. "What about second chances? . . . It was almost like he had robbed Safeway."
After yesterday's meeting, union officials told the family that Holland's record with the company was positive and showed no such offenses previously, Steven Holland said.
Greg TenEyck, a Safeway spokesman, said that the company decided to make an exception from its "very strict" policy against employee theft. He characterized the terms of the reinstatement offer as a "last chance."
"Any future violation of this policy will result in termination," he said.
With 200,000 employees, many of them working all day amid food, Safeway has created "strict standards about not eating the profits," TenEyck said. "We are in a very competitive business, with very thin profit margins."
Other companies have strict policies against theft, said Harry Manley, director of servicing for Local 27. In the last year, perhaps two dozen of his local's grocery workers at various stores have been fired for swiping small amounts of food, he said. Previous cases have included tidbits of cheese from a customer-sample tray and a bowl of deli salad, he said.
The idea that any theft can lead to being fired is stressed to employees, Manley said.
For Holland, Safeway was a career, and he was proud of his independence, of not relying on aid or disability benefits.
Hired in 1990, Holland worked part time without a promotion for nearly 10 years, then got a better part-time job in Germantown and afterward a deli position in Damascus.
His big moment came four years ago, when he became a full-time employee. "I was pretty much ecstatic," Holland recalled. By then he had married. His wife, Roberta, had three children, and she and Michael also have a daughter of their own. The family of six lives in Gaithersburg.
"All I want to do," he said, "is continue to work and provide for my family."
SMH
