Employee fired after fighting off robber
May 27, 2008 by Fred HosierPosted in: Employees do the strangest things, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
An employee violates company policy yet thinks he was doing the right thing. What disciplinary action do you take?
Mark Beverly, an employee at a SuperAmerica gas station in Roseville, MN, jumped on a masked robber who was trying to get cash from his co-worker.
The robber fled with only $15.
Beverly cooperated with police after the incident, helping them review security tape footage.
The next day he was fired for violating company policy.
The SuperAmerica company handbook advises employees to “cooperate; don’t argue, resist or attack the robber.” The company says a computer-based training program backs that up, and that Beverly took the course when he was hired.
Police also advise retail workers not to resist when faced with a robbery. They say an armed robber may not intend to use a weapon unless he faces resistance.
Beverly said when he heard his co-worker scream, he looked and thought the robber was jostling with her.
The security tape shows no physical contact between the robber and the other employee. Beverly told local TV stations that from where he was in the store, it looked like his co-worker was being attacked.
Beverly intends to contest denial of unemployment benefits.
Tags: employee fired, police, robbery
May 30th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Human actions need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, within the context of policy and facts. Employees must exercise judgement, and so must managers and executives. Trying to issue “one-size-fits-all” rules in an effort to avoid having to think or decide simply doesn’t work. There may be other factors which would indeed have justified termination of this employee, but on the face of the facts provided, it appears a blind adherance to overly-encompassing rules on the part of supposed decision-makers is at work here.
May 30th, 2008 at 11:19 am
When reviewing Mr. Shantz response I would agree from an employee standpoint. It would be nice to evaluate on a case by case basis. However with the society that we live in today policies are put into place to advise employees of what to do in these types of circumstances for their safety and for the protection of the employer. If this particlar employer were to review in a case by case scenario they would be violating their own policies thus opening themselves up to numerous lawsuits. Policies are developed for a reason and thus need to be followed for those reasons.
May 30th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
No good deed goes unpunished.
September 12th, 2008 at 11:24 am
The policy and the tapes are really irrelevent here. If Mr. Beverly truly thought his co-worker was being attacked, then he should have interceded. Obviously, he couldn’t review tapes then make a decision! Can you imagine if she was really being attacked and he just stood there because of company policy? Especially if she was injured or killed? Seems to me the policy said “Hands off and cooperate” in the event of a robbery, not a physical attack.
October 10th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
It seems that politically correct is coming into play here. Though for the wrong reasons, Mr. Beverly did the right thing. We shouldn’t care what the policy is. When another human being is in trouble, we should help. I write policies all of the time, but when enforcing them I always try to take into consideration common sense and the golden rule. How would I have wanted my co-worker to react? I would have tried to knock the perp’s head off.