Fired for Doing the Right Thing

Mark Beverly was a supervisor of for convenience store in Roosevelt, Minnasota until he was fired for coming to the aid of a co-worker he believed was being attacked. March 23rd Beverly was working the late night shift with a female co-worker. He had gone to the back to clean the restrooms when he heard his co-worker scream. He ran out to find a masked robber attempting to rob the store. Beverly thought his co-worker was being attacked so he charged the robber. The robber was able to get away.

After reviewing the tape company officials fired Beverly because according to company policy employees are not to resist robbers. a company spokesperson believes the company was justifed because the video tape clearly shoes the other employee wasn’t in danger.

I understand the reason for the companies policy but firing a guy for defending a co-worker he thought was in danger. Good grief! Beverly saw a co-worker in a dangerous situation and acted. He did not have the luxury of reviewing video tape from a safe location. He was caught in the middle of a potentially dangerous situation. Maybe he shouldn’t have tried to stop the guy but firing him is not the proper response. If the company feels that they must enforce a non-resistance policy for the safety of their employees or more likely out of fear of being sued then take less drastic sanctions against the guy. Say maybe a day or two suspension or a really mean letter to him. But firing the guy is absurd. He sounds like the kind of employee the company would want to keep.