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Out of 30 tuna fish sandwiches bound for the trash, 57-year-old Whole Foods employee Ralph Reese set aside one for himself, to be eaten at the end of his shift last November. But an unnamed supervisor at the Union Square supermarket (let's call him Inspector Javert) noticed the sandwich sitting on the deli counter and demanded to know why it wasn't on its way to a landfill. After Reese explained that he intended to eat it, Javert threw it out, and Reese was fired two days later, because, the company claims, he was essentially attempting to steal the sandwich; Whole Foods policy dictates that food cannot consumed by employees without being purchased.
And because Reese was fired for "misconduct," he was denied unemployment benefits. Elizabeth A. Shollenberger, director of government benefits and consumer law for Queens Legal Services, represented Reese as he protested the misconduct classification. She tells City Room, "A lot more people are getting fired for very minor reasons. What we are seeing is that they are firing people for ‘misconduct’ when what they are really doing is downsizing and it’s an attempt to not pay benefits... I’m not going to shop at Whole Foods anymore. Their behavior was outrageous, the way they treated this man."
Reese had worked at Whole Foods for two years and had transferred to the deli from the grocery department, where he says his previous supervisor let employees take damaged food. He explains, "They can’t sell them. They can only write them off as a loss. That is why they throw them out." Last month an administrative law judge ruled that since Reese did not eat the food or take it out of the store, the incident did not "rise to the level of misconduct." Reese is still unemployed, but he started receiving his benefits two weeks ago. He says, "All of this over something that was going in the garbage." Soup is good food!
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dicks
thief
Dick thief.
It's really sad how much food is wasted here.
wow...
That's pretty sad that Whole Foods would rather throw food in the trash that they are not going to sell than feed a human being.
Better throw it away than to be sued.
You assume Whole Foods sees their employees as human beings.
They are worse than Wal-Mart in the way they handle these situations, which is hardly surprising since they are more anti-union than wal-Mart and their founder, John Mackey, openly admires Wal-Mart.
Wasting food is a sin.
That's pretty awful of Whole Foods. I used to work at a Barnes & Noble and despite being an evil giant corporation, if we were about to toss something, any employee was free to take it home instead. I guess I had a manager with half a brain, unlike this guy.
Wasting food is a sin, however I don't blame them from tossing them out instead of donating them.
I used to work at a restaurant that donated pastries and baked goods to food shelters. One day we were slapped with a lawsuit (along with 4 other restaurants/grocers) because someone at the shelter got sick. Our restaurant settled out of court for fear of having our name mentioned in the news even though we were 100% sure we weren't to blame. After that incident, management decided the risks weren't worth it and it was easier to write it off as a loss.
That's an interesting point CG, unfortunate, but not surprising. As I said yesterday, no good deed ever goes unpunished.
wow thats crazy
i wonder how City Harvest gets people to donate, do they provide indemnity?
I used to work for Whole foods and unfortunately this IS their policy. If you had a supervisor that understood how wasteful it to throw stuff out, you could ask them first, and then they could write it off with a supervisors signature. I was a supervisor and let my employees do this only if they asked me. Sounds like the supervisor here was waiting for a reason to fire this guy. These are the rules at whole foods my friends, he knew that and blatantly refused to follow them. Its a pretty easy case that he won't win.
"blatantly refused to follow them"
He didn't refuse to follow the rule. He was told not to do it, and so he didn't do it. Then, he got fired "for misconduct."
true, this was pretty much my experience working there too. you either had the brown-nosing supervisors towing the company line or the supervisors with brains, fortunately everybody i worked for were of the latter persuasion.
remember first call? it was a pretty awesome way to have a cheap snack at the end of your night shift (or before your overnight shift), all of a sudden it stopped for almost no reason.
He already won that case. He was terminated without cause and is receiving unemployment benefits. And no doubt, he is happy not to work with such swine anymore.
I think Whole Foods is a overrated supermarket where folks just get caught up in the hype. Half their "Organic" is hardly organic by global standards. To hear of this unnecessary termination is disheartening. The poor guy took "Trash" to eat basically. Would they have fired someone for taking a trash bag full of waste home? I will no long patronize Whole Foods as well. That manager needs to get his A** kicked in an alley for making this poor guy's life miserable over a bad tuna sandwich!!
If Whole Foods let their employees eat food headed for the trash, no employee would buy food. They would just wait until the end of the day to eat trash-bound food. Whole Foods is a business; not a soup kitchen. Soup is good food.
and what is wrong with WF letting employees eat food bound for the trash? Have you any idea of the profit margins we are talking about here on food? Pick up a book and get schooled before you start commenting GOP. Even with food going to the trash, WF makes a healthy profit margin even after padding their exec pockets with millions in bonuses after the stock price has gone south. Wake up.
The problem is that employees then begin to set aside choice cuts and expensive food for themselves. Apparently Fairway used to let employees take leftover fish home but they had the same problem with employees setting aside or hiding the best cuts for themselves. It's a shame all the way around but it's not a surprise that a chain like WF has that policy.
I would think all employee purchases needs to go through management or some strict protocol, restrictions etc.
I like WF now that they're in my area, I use my foodstamps there all the time.
Airlines let their employees fly for free, why shouldn't a business that sells food let them have a bite to eat on the house? They probably don't pay a lot, why not offer it as a perk? What's going on here makes no moral or business sense.
As for the lawsuits from the donated food, good point and another example of lawyers making life more complicated, unbearable and unaffordable for every one else.
Actually, most airlines don't let their employees fly for free anymore. They must cover the airport taxes and fees. It's not much for domestic flights, but it's not free.
I thank all my defenders. Your reward will be in heaven.
the reason this policy exists at fast food restaurants, for example, is to prevent employees from purposely making too much food, knowing some of it will have to be tossed, so they can get free food.
but this case reeks of "free layoff opportunity"
f*ck whole foods, anyway. way overpriced
I thought I was a spiteful SOB.
I would never throw out food.
Whole Foods is for suckers... His salary must have been so low he resorted to eating trash. They hire people at will-maybe this guy has a history of boosting shit and this was the last straw.
I remember when the Brooklyn Fairway was about to open, and somebody posted a bitter screed against the chain, accusing it of treating its employees like shit and praising Whole Foods as an alternative. It turns out that this may have been WF CEO John Mackey himself, who was caught using "sock puppets" online.
While I do like the convenience of the premade foods area, I can't imagine doing my weekly grocery shopping at Whole Foods. The place seems to have "asshole" stamped all over it.
Ah, here is the post I was thinking of, on Curbed. See comment #6.
I won't be shopping at Whole Foods either...too expensive.
well, WF isn't doing all that well during this recession of ours. thats a good thing
i like fairway
This is yet another example of a corporation marketing itself as a good citizen but still acting unethically.
He should have waited for the sandwich to hit the dumpster and then dressed up like a trust fund kid and taken it out. Then he'd be hip.
That only works for hot chicks, and it ends up on Gothamist.
I think this is a pretty standard policy. I used to work at Wegmans and I believe this was their policy as well.
I'm a little shocked, however, that Whole Foods doesn't donate perishables to a food bank at the end of each day.
As a whole foods employee, I want to point out that the scary part about this article isn't the waste of food issue, but rather WFM's practice of back-door layoffs by firing people for what are, as any food employee knows, everyday practices and one of the fringe benefits of the job. combined with a harsh hiring freeze, it's a way to bring labor budgets down without paying benefits or having to publicly announce general layoffs. At my store I saw this happen often.
As a whole foods employee, I want to point out that the scary part about this article isn't the waste of food issue, but rather WFM's practice of back-door layoffs by firing people for what are, as any food employee knows, everyday practices and one of the fringe benefits of the job. combined with a harsh hiring freeze, it's a way to bring labor budgets down without paying benefits or having to publicly announce general layoffs. At my store I saw this happen often.
sorry about the double-post
When I was at university (many years ago) I had a part-time job in a cheese/ gourmet foods store. It was a swell gig. Among benefits, on Fridays, prepared meals that were in the case since Sunday were written down and then given to me by the shopping-bag full. I was the starving student, right? I would go back to my dorm to share chicken cordon bleu, chicken francaise, shrimp dishes, etc, etc with my pals. There's a pretty good bet we had what we once referred to as "the munchies." It did not suck.
That said, I can see WF's position. What if an employee held a sandwich aside, waiting until 7 PM or whenever they do the write downs. That wouldn't be acceptable, would it? What if folks working at Macy's or Bloomies or the like hid something until employee-only sale days?
IN THIS CASE? WF were dicks. This was on it's way to the trash. Let the dude eat it. I hope some labor rights group keeps a close eye on WF, identifies ways they are veiling downsizing as misconduct, and slaps a huge class-action on them.
If you shop at Whole Foods, check your bags before leaving the store.
About two years ago, I went there to shop for a party. I bought several items there. When I got home, several expensive items were missing. I'm assuming the woman that was checking me out had one bag for me and one bag for her.
I bet this wasn't the first time this man stole something from Whole Foods. They most likely had their eyes on him.
Why would you believe Whole Foods over him? WF is "organic" and "neighborhood-friendly" only because it serves their bottom line. I would trust some random person before I trusted anyone on the board at WF.
You can Fire At Will in NY state... for any reason they want. It's really unfair.
The issue is that they classified the firing as 'misconduct', which prevents him from receiving unemployment benefits.
I believe that has been resolved as of now though.
O yes, one of my employers tried that on me; it was a false claim and I contested it and got my bennies. I was NOT fired for misconduct, I was laid off but my scumbag boss didn't want me to get bennies because, well, he's a dick.
I used to work at ...unnamed burger joint..., and they had the policy that if you screwed up an order, it had to go in the trash. I used to think that was idiotic, especially since most of us made $5-6/hour, and lunch cost $4-6 (-10% employ discount - wooo!), but the manager explained that employees used to mess up all the time on purpose for free food.
I understood initially, but then I started to notice that if there were 10 employees making $6+/hour, over the course of 2 shifts, their daily outlay was $1000-1500 a day in employee costs. Morning rush normally saw 200-300, lunch rush saw twice that many as did dinner time. Plus, the number of people coming in during off times, the store easily saw 1000-1500 customers per day spending on average 5 or more bucks. Assuming that the food initially cost them half as much to buy and transport (which is generous), the store was making at least $2500/day after employee and food costs, and I know their insurance and rent were not that much.
Even given long-term investments in equipment, this store was doing well (and they had 30 similar locations). If they gave each employ 10 bucks worth of free food per day, it would have hardly made a difference to the size of the CEO's mansion or the overall bottom-line.
This is small potatoes compared to Whole Foods, but if each employee took 2 sandwiches each day, would anyone even notice? A good manager can notice the difference between an employee who is reasonable in taking spoiled food and an an employee who abuses the system. Further, such accusations of abuse start with talking to the employee, not firing them.
If corporations treated their employees better than dog shite, then few would do things like screw up on purpose, hide food, steal office supplies, etc. There's the occasional bad apple, but most people will respect their place of work if they aren't being treated like children.
If he was wearing an artificially antiqued NYU t shirt, he would've been hailed as a protest genius. Oh wait. Tuna is fish. Never mind. It would have to be a vegan wrap.
A friend of mine was fired for taking home a left over peanut butter(!) sandwich from the doll-themed establishment she worked at. Employees there routinely took home the extra food, and it looks like this "anti-theft" rule is selectively enforced at many establishments that want to fire staff willy-nilly and cover their tails in the eyes of the law. It's a sad loop-hole for the staff at food service establishments.
I knew this was going to show up here eventually. As soon as I saw it in the Times I KNEW it would be here. What a great flaming post for all the Whole Foods haters out there.
Get a life people.
Says the person leaving a comment just to tell everyone he KNEW Gothamist would cover the story.
Hey asshole-go shit in yer fist and squeeze tight okay?
Food service employees at Whole Foods are apparently heavily scrutinized for "theft" while employees in other sections are not. Either way, this is a company built upon sheer hypocrisy and greed and it's sickening how they've tried to monopolize the organics industry. If you shop there, buy a nice sandwich and then hand it to an employee and proclaim loudly that you want them to enjoy it without getting fired.
I can't afford to buy a sandwich at WF, let along give it away.
If they're going to pay their employees shit, they might as well feed them lunch-- especially if it was food that was going to waste anyway.
The more I think about this story the more it enrages me.
Good Job, whole foods.. way to be "green" .. ugh..
seems it would be easier to make a policy where you give em a meal...for the burger places, if you screw up a sandwich you just made your lunch for that shift, something along those lines. for WF, if you want something you gotta get approval, like some of the smarter supervisors seem to understand...
just come up with some sort of incentive to not abuse the system, way easier than all these bs policies.
Sounds like the former employee has a pretty good case here. If I was a pro bono attorney, I'd take it on for free to get him reinstated with back pay and compensation for all the grief. Sounds like his previous supervisor(s), whether acting within or without the rules, set a precedent by allowing him to squirrel away food items intended for the garbage. He simply followed the prior practice. And if the ALJ ruled that it was not misconduct, I don't see why he can't be reinstated since the alleged misconduct was the purported reason for his firing.
I can't believe that none of the news coverage, including this article, and none of the comments, mentions that Whole Foods donated 13,379 pounds of grocery items to City Harvest last year, and is one of City Harvest's main corporate sponsors. If it is true these sandwiches were bound for trash and not donation, they likely had a good reason, given their track record.
It seems irresponsible to me that journalists would not have mentioned this and allowed everyone to think Whole Foods just wastes all their leftover food.
http://www.cityharvest.org/images/news/pdf/Winter2008.pdf
Wow, where did you find such a vibrantly red herring? Your comment displays an obvious ignorance with the realities of working at a grocery store. Gesturing to whatever symbolic efforts the company does elsewhere doesn't give them the right to use false accusations of theft as a way of laying off employees without benefits, and it's disingenuous to suggest that there's some sort of connection between the two. I can't imagine why anyone other than some WF PR flack would actually hold that opinion, or even claim to.
If you accept as truthful that the subject sandwich was either damaged, unsellable and/or intended for the garbage, then your citing of Whole Foods' generosity only bolsters the former employee's position that he should not have been fired because he was acting in the very spirit of WF, i.e., not wasting food. The person who fired him should have used some common sense.
I'd also be interested in seeing any evidence, though, that this firing was allegedly a pretextual firing, i.e., that the employee was really fired for economic reasons.
Nice try, sweetie. Your company fumbled another "moral dilemma" and created negative press for itself. What does City Harvest have to do with a termination without cause? All the corporate charity in the world can't mask the reality that corporations regularly abuse their employees and Whole Foods is no exception. That they present themselves as "caring" makes them even worse than Wal-Mart which is just straight-up nasty.
Haha. What's yuppie PR rep-speak for ‘pwned?’
oh, right.
This is such a fascinating amazing time to live in:
A Kenyan/Kansan US President on Leno. Congressmen suggesting those greedy, ballsy fucks they just gave billions to commit hara-kiri. Anarchist student hippies straight up demanding seats on their university boards of trustees.
Yuppies' wallets lighten, so the first thing they cut is the extravagances of eating what the poor can't afford and buying out of their wasteful, white guilt.
So Whole Foods takes a huge hit, is forced to drop the self-righteousness charade since it has zero value, and acts like the monopolistic corporation they always were.
Everyone shows their true colors in a crunch. I actually say this both awestruck and with a great abundance of optimism.
(1st day of spring, gimme a break!)
Whole Foods SUCKS!
one time i went to starbucks because i had a hankerin for a pumpkin loaf.. and when i ordered, i said, oh ill take that broken one i dont mind-- referring to a perfectly good pumpkin loaf piece that happened to be split in two. The guy said, oh ill give you that one for free because im not allowed to sell it.
I think he had the "damaged goods" policy completely wrong but it totally made my day.
frostedcupcakes.wordpress.com
whole foods products have pooped up quite a bit on the FDA peanut corporation of America recall lists , many of their whole food organic branded products were made in the Georgia and Texas plants.
Products that you would think didn't have peanuts, such as pancake and waffle mixes are still being recalled.
whole food organic labeling system needs to be looked at a lot closer.
From Subject Received
U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Honest Foods Voluntarily Recalls Choco Peanut Butter Baked Whole Food Bars Due to Possible Health Risk (March 16) Tue 3/17/2009 8:08 AM
U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Whole Foods Market Voluntarily Recalls 365 Organic Everyday Value Brand Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancake and Waffle Mix for Possible Health Risk (March 5) Fri 3/6/2009 1:17 PM
U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Whole Foods Market Recalls Select Peanuts, Peanut Products, and Self-Serve Grind Peanut Butters Because of Possible Health Risk (March1) Mon 3/2/2009 11:35 AM
U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Whole Foods Market Stores in Southern California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii Voluntarily Recall Peanut Grinder Products (February 12) Mon 2/16/2009 4:14 PM
U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Whole Foods Market Recalls Bulk Items Because they May Contain Peanuts Contaminated with Salmonella (February 5) Fri 2/13/2009 11:10 AM
U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Whole Foods Market Recalls Bulk Peanut Products Due To Possible Health Risk (February 5) Fri 2/6/2009 1:19 PM
U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Whole Foods Market Recalls Whole Foods Carob Energee Nuggets (January 23) Sat 1/24/2009 6:13 AM
Anyone who's worked in retail would not be surprised by this.
What a sad story ... what nonsensical waste, especially in these leans times.
I doubt I'll ever be shopping at Whole Foods again.
I sent this story to AC360 ... I hope he puts something on the air about this. More people should know how horrible Whole Foods is to their employees.
Better to walk a couple of blocks east and shop at Trader Joe's, where employees are treated with respect, and in kind, respect all of it's patrons.
They have much better prices too!