A Ford employee says he lost his job after being accused of stealing a $1.95 cookie, only for the company to later realize he’d actually paid for it.
60-year-old Kurt Kromm had worked at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant for 11 years, but told Shifting Gears he was fired after the company believed security footage showed him taking a cookie from the break room without paying.
They didn’t fire him for stealing the cookie. They fired him because he’s old and probably earning twice what a new hire who could do his job would earn. The cookie was just an excuse.
Every employer, big and small, has a collection of petty rules on the books that are only there to be enforced against people they want to get rid of “justifiably” and not have to pay unemployment.
This tactic goes by the lawful name of at will employment.
I think unemployment is paid to the State while they are working, no?
Companies get penalized if a lot of their former employees start getting unemployment.
At my last job they have a policy of people who retire are allowed to cash out Extended Illness Bank (EIB) hours at full hourly wages if you are over a certain age and have a certain number of years with the organization. The bank is maxed max out at 400 hours.
One day I was in HR working for a reporting meeting. An employee who was less than a month from hitting the age/tenure threshold was being fired for a miniscule reason.
Yep. I remember having to temporarily sit at the desk of some department head to address a network problem, whose desk was covered in paperwork involving some poor custodian who was asking for a medically necessary limited period of light duty as a result of a work-related injury, and this director’s handwritten notes all over it, with shit like “if she can’t do the job she shouldn’t be here, let’s draw a line under this,” etc. It was clear exactly what they were getting at; they ALL knew the law, hence the handwritten notes and vague language. The casual nature of it was revolting.
Corpos aren’t human in any way that matters.
The corporate mentality. All the behaviours of a psychopath. None of the medical explanation.
Because high level corporate people are psychopaths.
Statistically speaking, psychopathic traits/tendencies are very beneficial and actively selected for, for climbing the corporate ladder.
Now, obviously, they don’t go “Hey, you’re a psychomath, lets promote you 3 rungs up”, its that psychopaths have the charisma, manipulation, can backstab without feeling guilt, etc necessary to lift themselves up while pushing others down.
Or that ages of “wives tales” are actually true and wealth really does something to our psyche. It’s true to say that immoral people get into these positions and make the rules, but I think it’s overly simplistic to believe that is the entire reason.
The more terrifying analysis is that people do change and not always for the better. The system is stupidly good at corrupting people and power/wealth do something to our monkey brains that is insanely antisocial. People unfortunately absolutely do become worse in the system, and it is designed that way.
it is designed that way
They say the fish rots from the head down, and the same applies to organisations. Rot sets in when leadership becomes obsessed with short term gains, prioritises optics over substance, and treats excellence as a performance rather than a standard to live up to.
When you follow the money to the top, especially in publicly listed companies, it gets pretty grim. You see the same small circle of people rotating across boards, often lacking deep, tangible understanding of what they’re overseeing, appointed more for status and connections than competence.
Meanwhile, the people who actually built and sustain the company, the ones whose livelihoods depend on it, barely factor into the equation. They’re seen as nothing more than furniture that gets passed along with a company acquisition. Culture flows from that reality. When leadership rewards self serving behaviour, people adapt accordingly.
That’s how you end up with environments that feel psychopathic, not necessarily because individuals start that way, but because the system consistently selects for and reinforces it.
My 2c anyway.
And I hope they sued the fuck out of that company. Age discrimination is illegal as fuck.
Not when it’s a right to work state.
Right to work has nothing to do with ferdal law
Why isnt there free cookies in the breakroom?
Why are they nickle and diming employees for snacks that give them the energy to do their job well and full?
$1.95 is more than a nickel and a dime… that’s a profit center for several people in the supply chain.
Who puts cookies in the break room and expects you to pay for it.
It’s cookies.
They’re cheap.
Treat your workers.
Treat your colleagues.
Edit: very curious to hear the mindset of the few down voters of this.
Lolz. Public corporations don’t care about your well being. If there is an ROI on any action, it’s worth taking and if that means no cookies because it ensure the shareholders get a fraction of a percent return, then no cookies for you.
I’m working hard to leave my current corpo. They’re down to the “bring the dry pen back to get a new one” stage of bean counting. That’s a sinking ship to disembark from ASAP.
If large company needs to count bullshit like that, they are not in a healthy position.
Craziest shit is that has to cost way more than just buying an extra box of fucking pens
Last two companies I worked for treat their workers to a lot of goodies, like food, after work parties, stuff like that. Not everyone is that stingy. But of course, they only care in order to make workers happy to make more money for the company.
In the end, it’s all about the moolah.
If it ain’t in a vending machine, it should be free.
I have definitely seen vending machines at various office over the years.
60-year-old
That’s why. I guess Ford won’t have to pay him some retirement package.
There are 35-year-olds that have worked for Ford longer.
You don’t just fire a $200k worker over a $2 cookie without looking for a reason to fire them.
At one point in my life, I coveted and desired to own a Ford above all else.
Today, I can proudly say I have never owned a Ford, and I will NEVER own a Ford. Ford has become an exceptionally shitty company in the past decade or more. For all the history they have, I hope/desire/wish they will cease to exist in the near future.
It’s a shame. My parents owned two ford vans for my entire childhood and both served my family extremely well for more than two decades. I have owned three and they have all been excellent. I can’t say that I’d buy a new ford with everything that I’ve read recently.
Should sue for defamation and damages
Law suit territory. Time for a comfortable retirement.
Seems like a slam dunk case. What a joke of a company. Hope they fire everyone who thought it was smart to fire this guy. Huge waste
Wrongful termination for sure, idk about defamation. I think it’d be hard to argue being accused of stealing a cookie actually hurt your reputation in any meaningful way.
If the employee isn’t ready to retire, being fired for theft of company property is something that will absolutely effect their reputation.
Fair point! I’d still lead with the wrongful termination personally, but also IANAL so take that with the block of salt it deserves.
100% this is ‘we want to fire this guy because he made somebody one or two or three levels above him on the totem pole look really foolish’.
Its the same bullshit as ‘oh you don’t get your security deposit back because … we decided you scratched something, somewhere’.
Yeah. If your company is looking that closely into your behavior, they are looking for an excuse instead of a reason.
Age discrimination.
Companies love firing people rather than letting them retire. Hell even the government loves to do it. It happened to my dad, he got forced into early retirement after 30 years of government service. The union really failed him.
The snack shop at my place of employment charges $4.69 for a Tyson chicken patty sandwich. Ya know, the patties that cost $0.85 per patty if you buy a pack at the store. Tuna on wheat? $4.00.
It does have a slice of American cheese on it though.
Why are employees expected to pay for cookies in the break room?
Oh right, capitalism. Human decency be damned.
Under socialism, employers must supply free cookies in breakrooms.
Historically every job provided all workers a meal, often two if it was a long day. This didn’t stop being the norm until clocks and factories became common.
It’s also a win-win for the company. Happy, well-fed workers work better, and hang around longer.
My employer offers free fruits in breakrooms. Life safers when you have low bloodsugar.
That coupled with other benefits like free gym, company paying half of any bicycle i buy and discounts with local massagers have made me healthier and i have turned down an job offer from better paying job because they had worse benefits.
Technically yes. The employees own the company, and part of the company expenses, it’s make sure the break room have free cookies.
They just steal your paycheck instead lol
Cause capitalists arent interested in taking your tax money to enrich themselves either.
Union didn’t help him at all
Uhhh… It didn’t help him as much as it should have, but my understanding from watching a video about this yesterday is that he already got paid back for the time after he was fired because of the union. So, it did help him some.
What would they help him with though? He had proven he has paid and they reversed course on the firing.
They didn’t stop him from getting fired for a stupid reason to begin with
The manufacturer later offered him his job back and agreed to provide back pay for the time he’d spent out of work, but he chose to take a new job elsewhere.
Unfair dismissal
Would such a suit make sense, given they reversed course after he has proven he did pay?
Yes because they “poisoned the well”. He’s got them by the nut sack.
