(Daily360.com) – Last week a Lululemon sportswear store was robbed in the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan area, two employees called the police during the theft and believe they were fired as a result. However, the CEO of the Vancouver-based company, Calvin McDonald positions the matter differently. He says the company has a strict ‘zero tolerance’ policy relating to theft and the two female employees broke with policy and that is the reason for their termination. McDonald insists the policy is there to protect the workers during a robbery and that is why the company maintains there can be no deviation. The employees Jennifer Ferguson and Rachel Rogers say they were aware of the policy regarding shoplifters.
The policy as they describe it is to scan a QR code which alerts the system a robbery is taking place and then they are to do nothing else. They claim they were given no specific reason for the firing and offered no severance pay. McDonald says they were in essence fired for putting themselves and customers in danger. He explained that Lululemon ‘educators’ which is the company’s word for store employees are to do nothing when a robbery is taking place, not to write anything, call anyone or engage with the thieves in any way. He says this is the policy they feel best protects educators and ‘guests’ (shoppers) alike. He says calling the police is not against the policy if needed. McDonald says the issue that got Rogers and Ferguson fired was not the calling of police to the store but rather it was engaging the thieves, following them, speaking to them and then following them out of the store. He says this could have escalated the situation and led to someone being harmed. Security footage captured Ferguson saying the looters “Seriously, Get out” to which one replied with an expletive and ordered her to shut up. The thieves were later tracked down by police and charged with felony robbery.
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