[blueash]

Popeye's was running a very low priced special with a high volume of sales in Houston when a masked gun wielding individual entered the store, jumped the counter and when unable to get into the safe, took all the money from the register. Total take, about $400. Store rules require that the cashier not allow excessive cash to remain in the register, instead once a defined amount is in the till the cashier is to stop taking orders, count out the excess money, place it in a the correct envelopes and deposit into a secure area. This is policy to discourage large losses from theft.

So this cashier apparently failed to follow this policy and having been terrorized by an armed robber, has now been fired by Popeye's for her role in their loss, unless of course she is willing to repay the money Popeye's lost. See, if it was really about not following policy then repaying would not get her out of being fired. She did violate policy but it's the lack of repayment that is really getting her canned.

Does this seem right?

Pregnant Popeye's worker fired after armed robbery

[redwitch]

Well, as some would say rules are rules. Odds are, though, she would have been fired for keeping customers waiting while she counted out the money. Never did particularly like Popeye's. Now I really don't.

Hope they enjoy the well-deserved bad publicity and hope the employee gets lots of support and help from her community.

[B767drvr]

The fact is she violated a policy enacted to discourage robberies and limit economic loss. According to the article, this was not her first policy violation. So yes, as an at-will employee it is perfectly legal to fire her.

Here is a brief explanation of at-will employment:

"If you are employed at will, your employer does not need good cause to fire you. In every state but Montana (which protects employees who have completed an initial "probationary period" from being fired without cause), employers are free to adopt at-will employment policies, and many of them have. In fact, unless your employer gives some clear indication that it will only fire employees for good cause, the law presumes that you are employed at will."


As an afterthought, how can you be certain her policy violation was not intentional? Perhaps she intentionally allowed the cash to build and the robbery was pre-arranged? I'm sure this is one of the first suspicions of law enforcement.

[villagetinker]

Without knowing all of the details, or previous incidents, I would have though a stern warning, a probationary period, and specific random checks would have been appropriate, but I try to cut people some slack for first time oversights.

Just my humble opinion, please do not shoot the messenger.

[Topspinmo]

Too bad, just when when the 15 dollar hour protests are starting to pay off. With 10 cent raise increments?

[Walt.]

I think the company was being generous in letting her make up the money taken. The policy is to defray any losses due to hold-ups. So... has she no responsibility?
While we're it... what does her being pregnant have to do with anything? A cynical person might wonder if she was thinking how much her ever-growing family could use a few "extra" bucks.
Somebody will almost certainly set up fund and hundreds of people will send her money. It's almost too predictable.

[redwitch]

Just read the whole article. It doesn't say what her past infractions were, just that she had some. Reality is that today it is virtually impossible to work in a chain restaurant or store without being written up. It also sounds like corporate has overridden the franchisee and she'll get her job back with an apology.

[blueash]

Look it is totally obvious if you bother to read the story that she was not fired for failure to follow the cash in the till rule. She was fired because she didn't pay money back. They were perfectly happy to have her stay as an employee even though she messed up on the money rule. So it is not a case of rules are rules. It is a case of give us money or we will fire you under the guise of your rule breaking. Does Popeye really need to be made full when the robbery was for $400? How much over the magic dollar limit was the till? At most $200, so this really was about a couple hundred dollars and it is going to cost Popeye's many more that amount in bad publicity.

[Average Guy]

I wonder if other Popeyes cashiers routinely follow that policy or not.

If they do, then her negligence is more of an issue, but if the policy is not routinely followed by other employees, then she was unlucky that the burglary occurred when it did (assuming she was not an accomplice).