If it seems silly to you to throw away a well-paying automotive manufacturing job for a bag of chips, then you’re in the same boat as some recently fired Ford employees.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Ford has begun an investigation into its plants’ self-serve snack kiosks, which are powered by Aramark. The automaker is looking into possible malfunctions in the payment systems after two employees, who were recently fired for allegedly taking snacks without paying, disputed the charges.
One employee, an electrician making more than $200,000 a year at Ford’s Super Duty plant in Kentucky, was fired for allegedly taking a $2 chocolate chip cookie without paying. Another employee, an assembly line worker making nearly $90,000 a year at Ford’s Bronco SUV plant in Michigan, was let go for allegedly stealing a bag of Doritos and a package of Ritz crackers.
Both employees denied stealing the snacks and asked management why they would intentionally jeopardize their livelihoods for some junk food.
As one employee told the publication, issues with the self-serve kiosks may be at fault. Brendan Fluker, who works at the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, said the payment system sometimes appears to falsely show a completed transaction, double charge employees or freeze up during a transaction.
Fluker said that after hearing about employees being fired for allegedly stealing snacks, some other employees are now too nervous to use the kiosks.
Ford said in a statement that it’s working with Aramark to review situations where employees said they were wrongly accused of intentionally taking items without paying. Aramark issued a similar statement.
Nick Nabozny, one of the fired employees, has filed a grievance against Ford through the union, and is hoping to get his job back as well as recoup lost wages and maintain seniority. But for now, he’s been forced to cash out his 401k to support his family, according to the report.
