Question

Toni Berdit is the Washington, D.C. – area supervisor for Quick-Stop, a chain of convenience stores. She
has full responsibility for managing the seven Quick-Stop stores in Washington. Each store operates with
only one person on duty at a time. Although several of the stores stay open all night, every night, the Center
Street store is open all night Monday through Thursday but only 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., Friday through
Sunday. Because the store is open for fewer hours during the weekend, money from sales is kept in the
store safe until Monday. Therefore, the time it takes to complete a money count on Monday is greater than
normal. The company has a policy that when the safe is being emptied, the manager has to be with the
employee on duty, and the employee has to place each $1,000 in a brown bag, mark the bag, and leave the
bag on the floor next to the safe until the manager verifies the amount in each bag.

Bill Catron worked the Monday morning shift at the Center Street store and was trying to save his manager
time by counting the money prior to his arrival. The store got very busy, and, while bagging a customer’s
groceries, Bill mistook one of the moneybags for a bag containing three sandwiches and put the moneybag
in with the groceries. Twenty minutes later, Toni arrived, and they both began to search for the money.
While they were searching, the customer came back with the bag of money. Quick-Stop has a general
policy that anyone violating the money-counting procedure could be fired immediately. However, the
ultimate decision was left up to the supervisor and his or her immediate boss.

Bill was very upset. “I really need this job,” Bill exclaimed. “With the new baby and all the medical
expenses we’ve had, I sure can’t stand to be out of a job.”

“You knew about the policy, Bill,” said Toni.

“Yes, I did, Toni,” said Bill, “and I really don’t have an excuse. If you don’t fire me, though, I promise you
that I’ll be the best store manager you’ve got.”

While Bill waited on a customer, Toni called her boss at the home office. With the boss’s approval, Toni
decided not to fire Bill.

A. Do you agree with Toni’s decision? Discuss.

B. What signal might the decision not to fire Bill give to other store managers?

C. Quick-Stop had a general policy that anyone violating the money-counting procedure could be
fired immediately. If the store had a rule that violations of the money-counting procedure must be
fired, what would be some of the steps that Quick-Stop should have in place for Toni to conduct a
successful termination meeting?

Answer 1

A. Yes, I agree with Toni's decision because no doubt the policies of the company where violated and the mistake happened which could have cost the company a loss but it was unintentional. The employee did not want to cause this loss to the company purposely. Secondly, when the employee commits a mistake his past performance and diligence record is monitored to decide the action to be taken against him. In this case, Bill was diligent and committed to work and had no such record that would form the basis to terminate him on this mistake. Thirdly, considering the ethical part, he had a family and responsibilities to fulfil which demanded job retention. Considering these points, it was the right decision of Toni not to terminate him merely based on the company policy.

B. The other store manager could get a wrong signal by not firing Bill as this clearly means not going by the company policy and considering an employee based on his personal factors. But this issue can be addressed by imposing a penalty on Bill for his conduct in place of termination. This disciplinary action can be decided by the Toni such that is a lesson for Bill to be careful in future and a signal to others that though considering overall reasons Bill has not been terminated but has faced the disciplinary action from the company.

C. To conduct a successful termination meeting, the reasons for termination should be indentifed and put in palce before declaring the termination decison. The eprson shoudl be told about the termination face to face, explaning him the reasons for the termination. If required a third party should be included in the termination meeting who can act as a witness and not make the employee feel being treated unfairly by the company or the supervisor. The termination should include all details like the period of grace given, the dues and gratuities which will be settled and any other pending issues between the employee and the company should be addressed.