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CHANNELVIEW, Texas — After a fast-food restaurant was robbed, the pregnant shift manager said she was fired for refusing to reimburse the company the money that was stolen.
The heist happened March 31 at a Popeyes (PLKI) fried-chicken restaurant here and was captured on surveillance video. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office still has not identified the gunman more than three weeks after the crime.
“I told them I’m not paying nothing,” Marissa Holcomb said. “I just had a gun to me. I’m not paying the money.”
In the video, a man with ski mask runs in waving a gun. He forced all the employees to the floor.
Then, he turned his attention to Holcomb.
“By the back of my shirt, he pulled me up and he pushed me to the front,” she said. “He told me to give him everything out of my safe.”
But the only thing Holcomb could open were the registers. The gunman got away with nearly $400.
After the robbery, Holcomb claimed that one of her managers gave her a choice: Pay the money back or be fired. Less than 36 hours later, she was fired.
“I don’t think it’s right because now I’m struggling for my family,” she said. “What I had to do (was) keep my life.”
Officials from the Popeyes franchise owner, Z&H Foods of Sugar Land, Texas, wouldn’t talk on camera.
However, a spokesman in the company’s human resources department said Holcomb was fired because she didn’t follow company policy, leaving too much money in the cash register. And this wasn’t her first offense.
That spokesman, who refused to be identified, also said that if she were given the option to pay money back, the company knew nothing about it.
Popeyes’ corporate office in Georgia initially refused to comment, deferring to the local franchise.
However, by Thursday afternoon the chief executive of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen weighed in.
“We recently became aware of a story in Houston involving a Popeyes restaurant and employee,” CEO Cheryl Bachelder said in a statement. “We have spoken to the local franchise owner of the restaurant, and he has taken immediate action to reach out to the employee to apologize and rectify the situation.
While the facts are gathered, we will closely monitor this until it is appropriately resolved,” she said. “We deeply regret the distress this situation has caused.”
Holcomb said that Tuesday had been busy: The restaurant offers a two-piece chicken meal for $1.19, and she moved money into the safe as fast as she could.
“They got what they got because that’s what we made within one hour,” she said.
Z&H Foods isn’t the only company with this type of policy, according to KHOU-TV research. Other companies also have rules about the amount of money allowed to accumulate in a cash register and how much an employee is liable for when a shortage occurs.
That’s little comfort for Holcomb, who is not only unemployed but pregnant with her fourth child. She said she has been filling out applications for other jobs but doesn’t expect anyone to hire her now.
“I mean, who’s gonna call me? I’m five months pregnant,” she said before Bachelder issued her statement. “The fact (is) I got robbed at gunpoint, and it’s like nobody cares.”
http://www.kens5.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/22/pregnant-woman-robbery/26173521/
I read this morning that she got her job back.
Was the store robbed by her husband?
If not, I can’t imagine why they’re holding her responsible, and if the robber only got away with an hour’s take, I don’t see why her tight-wad boss is complaining about it.
I agree! Those corporate bastards are insured for such things. I guess just like the bail-outs for the “too big to fail” banks, they want it all plus more!
While living in near Richardson Texas I knew of a guy that managed Long John Silvers getting fired for stopping the place from being robbed. I knew the dude because we ate there sometimes. Just can’t win.
When Corpse orations were first allowed entrance to do bs. here it was well understood that Corporations had to submit a Charter that explained what they could do. Without exemption, none of them could violate the rights of the people acknowledged and written in our Constitution. They could do nothing that would violate our God given rights. They were like the tail of a dog which is controlled by the dog. But, now, all of this has been thrown out of the window and the Corporations are ruling as the head treating we the people as the tail. All original branches of government has been replaced by individual Corporations. These are commonly recognized in law as fictional entities. Fiction by definition means not real. Not true. Made up. So, this story isn’t about this womans not following policy. It’s just more introduction of the insanity and mindset of these souless CEO’s etc. who would fire a pregnant woman. They are most assuredly insured against such losses the same as a Brinks armored car’s cargo is! Period. This Corporation Dog who thinks it’s our boss will have to be put down. The table has to be swept clean. We already have the founding principles of our Constitution. It’s not difficult to understand. Get rid of the bar attorneys, and that will eliminate at least 1/2 of the problem. Our 3 branches were designed so each could watch the other. Not so they could meld into one giant criminal cabal ruling over it’s owner. But, this is a very old scenario that has been depicted in the bible in the parable of the unfaithful servant scheming to murder the son of the owner-the heir apparent so they could own it. This is what all of these Alphabet agencies are doing along with all these pseudo courts all the way to the top.