Whole Foods worker fired after posts criticizing free food for police
A Whole Foods worker in Philadelphia has been fired after sharing posts on social media criticizing their store management for providing free food to police during George Floyd protests in the area.
Megan Murray, 22, had worked at the store in Philadelphia for nearly two years. The company denied the firing was caused by her postings and said it was for a “major infraction”.
The outlet shares a building and parking garage with a local police station. During recent anti-police brutality protests, they and other workers heard that a manager had provided police officers with free food and water.
A Whole Foods spokesperson confirmed the store had closed and evacuated early on 1 June due to the protests and provided remaining prepared food and water for free to police officers on site assisting with evacuation.
The move angered some workers, including Murray.
“Around June 4th and 5th, team members started making public posts about it. At that point, I started sharing some of those posts and started talking to co-workers about a response,” said Murray. “That Friday I went back into work after I shared that stuff, and that was when they pulled me in for an investigation. They put me on administrative leave and called me 24 hours later to tell me I was fired.”
According to Murray, they were not provided with a specific reason for the termination other than a “major infraction”. Murray claimed the firing was retaliatory as management had previous discussions with her about organizing activity in the past, including participating in sickout protests over working conditions amid the coronavirus pandemic and speaking publicly to the media.
“It constituted retaliation simply for the fact that no other employees were even so much as investigated about this even though I made it clear in my statement and interview that this was a collective effort,” added Murray. “If they were investigating people on the basis of their involvement that means they would have had to investigate 40 to 50 workers, but they only investigated me, which leads me to believe it is retaliatory for my history of organizing.”
Whole Foods denied the firing was retaliatory and noted the company had a zero-tolerance policy for retaliation.
A spokesperson said: “The Team Member was separated due to a major infraction, which we investigated after it was brought to our attention by fellow Team Members.”
They did not clarify on what the major infraction was but after publication a spokesperson added: “The team member was presented with evidence that showed clear violation of our policies against behavior and language that is threatening, vulgar and obscene towards a team member and was separated as a result. Her actions were specifically directed towards an individual in the workplace and perceived as a safety threat. They were brought to our attention by fellow store team members.”
In emails sent to Whole Foods employees, the company has touted its parent company, Amazon, making a $10m donation to “organizations that are working to bring about social justice and improve the lives of Black and African Americans”. Whole Foods announced to employees on 5 June that the company was creating an inclusion taskforce of team members to raise awareness and support diversity and inclusion at Whole Foods.
Shortly after the George Floyd protests began, Amazon changed its website banner to affirm support for Black
Lives Matter and its CEO, Jeff Bezos, publicly shared a blunt response to a racist customer upset about the company’s public support for the antiracism movement.
Murray is the second Whole Foods employee involved with Whole Worker, a grassroots collective of Whole Foods workers seeking to unionize, who was recently terminated.
Katie Doan, an employee for three years at a Whole Foods in Tustin, California, was fired on 27 May for time theft after she left the store during a panic attack. But Doan, who was tracking coronavirus cases among Whole Foods workers around the US for Whole Worker, argued management was aware of her issues with panic attacks and had previously made accommodations during episodes.
“Up until my termination, I had one write-up in the three years I worked there and was told often I was a valuable team member to the store,” said Doan. “Knowing that I have a strong and close relationship with my store, it made no sense to me that they would suddenly change their tune unless they had another reason to do so.”
Whole Foods denied Doan’s firing was retaliatory and said she had violated company policies. “Any suggestion that the separation of this team member is related to any form of retaliation is completely false. The team member admitted to violating wellestablished policies,” a spokesperson said.
Two workers at a Whole Foods in Bedford, New Hampshire, have been protesting outside the store after management told them they could not wear face masks displaying messages of support for the anti-racism protests. A Whole Foods spokesperson said company dress code prohibits visible slogans, messages, or logos that are not company related, and the employees were offered other face masks, which only one accepted.
Other workers around the US have reported facing retaliation from employers in response to supporting or participating in the George Floyd protests.
Jamila Swopes, a physical therapist in Gulfport, Mississippi, claimed she was fired the day she stood up against two white co-workers who were disparaging the protests.
Two black journalists at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette were removed from covering the protests.
In Columbus, Ohio, a server at the Forum at Kingsbridge, a five-star senior living facility, who requested to remain anonymous over concerns for future employment prospects, said she was fired after her employer found out she participated in local George Floyd protests.
“I’m just about to start working, I get
pulled out of the kitchen and they ask me why I called off the day before. I told them my voice was gone and my feet were hurting because I was out protesting and didn’t get home until late because the police weren’t providing ways for people to leave. They say ‘you are not allowed to protest’,” said the server.
Her manager then told her she was laid off, citing coronavirus concerns to residents. “That wasn’t a good reason to let me go, they could have just had me quarantined. No matter how I try to fight this, they’re always going to use something against me – I’m a black woman trying to fight against them, it’s just not worth it,” the worker said.
The Forum at Knightsbridge declined to comment, citing an ongoing HR process.