Ford fired an employee for stealing a $1.95 cookie. It was absolutely the wrong thing to do.
Normally, I’m a big supporter of enforcing the small rules—after all, if you don’t enforce a rule, then the rule doesn’t exist. So, if you catch someone, on camera, stealing a cookie, you can go ahead and terminate.
Except when you can’t. And that is when you don’t conduct a proper investigation.
In this particular case, however, the employee was diabetic, his blood sugar was dropping, and he needed to eat something. Add to that, he did, in reality, pay.
When you have a video of something, you may think you don’t need to talk to the people involved. There is video. It’s like you were a live witness.
In this case, the video came from a self-checkout surveillance camera at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, so you would think it would be trustworthy, but it didn’t tell the whole story.
To keep reading, click here: Ford Fired an 11-Year Employee for Stealing a $1.95 Cookie. The Problem? He Paid