Fired from McDonald’s Over a Slice of Cheese

By Alex in Crime & Law, Food & Drink on Jan 28, 2010 at 3:49 pm

Can you get fired over a slice of cheese? Apparently so, if you work at McDonald’s!

The waitress was fired last March after she sold a hamburger to a co-worker who then asked for cheese, which she added.

The fast-food chain argued this turned the hamburger into a cheeseburger, and so she should have charged more.

The fired employee sued, and won:

The fast-food chain had argued that the waitress – who was employed at a branch in the northern town of Lemmer – had broken staff rules prohibiting free gifts to family, friends or colleagues.

But the court said in its written judgement: "The dismissal was too severe a measure. It is just a slice of cheese," reports AFP news agency.

Link

Tags: cheese, fired, mcdonalds

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Kaos
Jan 28th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
Try to do it the other way around, order an Cheeseburger, but let them cut the cheese, this would transform the Cheese- into a Hamburger and therefore should be cheaper
Order
Jan 28th, 2010 at 6:14 pm
@ Kaos… Now, isn’t that cheesy!
ofcourse
Jan 28th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
Slice of cheese £0.0005 to McDonalds, sold to a co-worker…it beggars belief the mentality of some managers; hell when a friend of mine worked at McDonalds I used to get entire free cheeseburgers and nowt ever happened to him!
Johnny Cat
Jan 28th, 2010 at 7:28 pm
@Kaos:
But if I let them cut the cheese I’m just not going to be as hungry anymore.
EvilMonkeyNZ
Jan 28th, 2010 at 7:46 pm
This just highlights how shitty Mcdonalds burgers are! The slice of plastic cheese is like 20% of the whole burger.

I still eat way to much of them though.
V
Jan 28th, 2010 at 9:18 pm
So, according to the court it’s too severe a measure to fire a person over a piece of cheese, but it’s not too severe a measure to force at gunpoint (basically) a business to pay $5,600 for no longer wanting to work with a certain person?
willswords
Jan 29th, 2010 at 12:24 am
Since when did McDonalds have waitresses?
Bret Hammond
Jan 29th, 2010 at 12:49 am
Totally deserved to be fired. Kids need to grow up.
R Pies
Jan 29th, 2010 at 2:04 am
she stole cheese.
A
Jan 29th, 2010 at 3:33 am
Good thing I never sold that burger to the homeless native american who was short 5 cents back when I was working at Rotten Ronnie’s.
Necronomic Recovery
Jan 29th, 2010 at 6:17 am
Hold on a minute!

Was this a… SENSIBLE COURT DECISION?!

I never thought I’d see the day!
_Jane
Jan 29th, 2010 at 6:23 am
I know stories like this as well. Somebody being fired for some cream cheese, charging their mobile phone at work or re-using some coupons for bottle deposit.
In some cases the employers were found right.

I really really really hate this kinda stuff.
dbsmall
Jan 29th, 2010 at 9:44 am
While everything the court said was right, I don’t think I want courts making these decisions (about what’s severe).

In the US, typical employee codes of conduct state the rules, as well as the consequences for breaking them. (Usually, those consequences are “disciplinary action, up to and including firing.”

And, frankly, the employee broke the rule, and should not have been fired, IMO. But the company had every right to fire the employee, and the court shouldn’t force them not to.
Hans
Jan 29th, 2010 at 10:40 am
There have been some similar cases in Germany recently, where cashiers have been fired for “stealing” a coupon worth a dollar or for taking home bread instead of putting it in the garbage. Of course it’s ridiculous stuff.
The problem is: where do you draw the line? If one employee does this, it is ok, but what happens if every McD employee does it, every day, for several years?
chriswww
Jan 29th, 2010 at 11:17 am
I would cost them a lot more than a slice of cheese to train a new employee.

Btw how do they cook their burgers these days? I noticed there are no grills anymore. Their burgers are never warm enough.
SenorMysterioso
Jan 29th, 2010 at 11:43 pm
Chrisw

They still grill the burgers just not on the big flat grill you used to be able to see while standing in line. Now they use sort of a giant panini grill that cooks the meat from top and bottom at the same time to speed up the cook time.

They should have just said dont give away free cheese anymore or made her pay for it instead of firing her but its their restaurant and they can fire her if they want. Im not sure why you’re allowed to sue your employer if you break their rules and get fired for it.
Squiggy
Jan 30th, 2010 at 1:05 am
The manager should be fired for giving the company bad press, getting them sued, and generally being a douche.

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