Starbucks employee fired for giving away slow-selling sandwiches?!

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Recently, Le Provence reported that at the Provence Airport in Marseille, France, four employees of Starbucks and Prêt-à-Manger restaurants were fired by the management company for giving unsold food to homeless people and airport staff. It is understood that a Starbucks employee who has worked at the airport for 30 years said: "I gave sandwiches that should have been thrown into the trash to the homeless and airport staff." The employee said that this was something he had been doing for many years, never concealed it, and never felt that it would threaten his career. However, in March 2025, the store management company SSP Group (responsible for operating Starbucks and Prêt-à-Manger stores in the airport) suddenly fired the four employees on the grounds of "serious negligence" after discovering that employees had donated unsalable food. A statement issued by SSP said,"We regret to find serious violations at Marseille Airport. In accordance with company procedures, we fired some employees." The company emphasized that it has always been committed to food donations and anti-waste actions, but that all donations must be transparent, compliant, and comply with health standards and cannot be carried out in an informal, non-standardized and non-transparent manner. Once the news was disclosed, it immediately caused public outcry. Many citizens supported the employees on the Internet. A French politician even made a public statement on the social platform,"In France, fraternity is not a crime, but a respect for our republican values! "。However, labor law lawyers said that while netizens may see it as a good act for employees to donate unsalable sandwiches to homeless people, this is not the case from a legal perspective. The lawyer explained that even slow-moving products that are about to be discarded are owned by the company and not the employees themselves. Therefore, without obtaining the authorization of the company, the shop assistant privately delivers unsalable sandwiches to hungry people out of good faith, which can legally be equivalent to theft. Therefore, from a company's perspective, employees 'behavior of "donating slow-moving products" can be said to violate the company's internal regulations and commodity management systems, and constitute "serious negligence." In addition, lawyers pointed out that if the food handled and distributed by employees without authorization deteriorates, causing the people who eat these slow-moving products to become poisoned or unwell, the responsibility will actually be borne by the company. Therefore, from the perspective of legal and corporate risk control, the company's practice of "firing employees to prevent risks" is legal and reasonable. However, the party concerned insisted that "the director of operations knew about this and said to me,'Keep doing good things like this,' otherwise it will cost extra costs to transport food to a dedicated garbage station outside the airport." In this regard, the lawyer said that if the party concerned can produce relevant evidence to prove that the company has already known and acquiesced in, or even encouraged the shop assistant to give the unsold food to others, they can file a complaint to the court based on this, claiming that the company's dismissal was illegal and therefore apply for corresponding compensation.

Picture from: Internet screenshot

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