Fired for giving unsold sandwiches to the homeless

Starbucks and Prêt-à-Manger employees working at Marseille Airport fired for ”serious misconduct” : they gave to homeless people unsold sandwiches , which were meant to be thrown in the trash.

Translated from The Epoch Times, by Emmanuelle Bourdy

Their gesture of solidarity earned them their place. Starbucks and Prêt-à-Manger employees working at Marseille-Provence Airport (Bouches-du-Rhône) were fired for serious misconduct at the end of March. The reason for the dismissals? They had given to homeless people unsold sandwiches , which were to be thrown in the trash.

The management of the SSP (Select Services Partner) group—the service provider that manages the restaurants at Marseille-Provence Airport—did not mince words when announcing their dismissal to four of its employees. They are accused of having developed the habit of making food donations at the end of the day to the 80 homeless people at the airport, as well as to cleaners and security guards, reports BFMTV. A practice for which they even had the verbal consent of their superiors, according to them.

Products "Distributed Informally, Unregulated, and Non-Transparently"

First summoned by management, the four employees were subsequently dismissed for serious misconduct, accused by the company of participating in "product trafficking" by deliberately producing more sandwiches.

Contacted by the 24-hour news channel, the SSP group stated that it has been committed "to food donations and the fight against waste" for several years. "It is our sole responsibility to ensure that under no circumstances are food donations distributed informally, unregulated, and non-transparently. It is with this demand for responsibility that we wanted to put an end to these practices as quickly as possible," the company explained.

In a statement to Le Parisien, the company stated that this commitment to combating waste "is based on transparency rules that guarantee fairness and compliance with hygiene standards."

The Marseille-Provence Airport approach is similar. Its management, which wants to shed "full light" on these layoffs, assured BFMTV that it is "concerned about the application of labor law rules for its employees as well as for the employees of its partners."

An "incomprehensible" decision for the four employees

These four former employees suspect the SSP group of having found "a pretext to get rid of them," the Paris-based daily reported. "They push you into the void and they smear you for items that are destined for the trash," one of them told the news channel, lamenting: "I can't get over it, I'm traumatized. I don't go out anymore, I don't do anything anymore."

"Does this warrant a sudden dismissal, overnight?" another asked, knowing that the people benefiting from these unsold items were "in serious moral and financial difficulty," a third employee emphasized. "They sleep on the platform, some have been there longer than me."

Sabri (pseudonym), who is among the dismissed employees, had worked at Marseille-Provence Airport for 30 years as a lemonade counter attendant. He told France 3 Provence Alpes that his management "was aware of it." "There was overproduction, my superior told me it was good to continue. Otherwise, he was forced to leave the airport grounds to throw it in special bins, which had "a cost," he affirmed, adding that the food was recorded by his superior before it was distributed. "I wouldn't have taken any risks for my career or my company; everyone knew and appreciated me," he argued.

The four dismissed employees, who have initiated legal proceedings, do not intend to stop there. They have decided to turn to the labor court. "We're not going to let this happen, which is also why we contacted the press," Sabri insisted. Despite everything, the man says he's proud of the reason for his dismissal, since it was for a good cause.