Court: Firing Worker Who Took Hot Dogs Unjustified

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Court of Appeals says a department store wasn't justified in firing a worker who took two leftover hot dogs from a company picnic, so it must pay him unemployment benefits.

The court ruled Thursday in the case of Nolan Koewler, who was fired from a Dillard's store in Evansville a year ago.

Dillard's hosted a Fourth of July cookout for employees. Afterward, a manager ordered the leftovers stored in a break room freezer until Labor Day.

The next day, Koewler took two hot dogs and ate them, an act caught on surveillance video. He claimed he never heard the instruction to save the hot dogs, and the three-judge panel sided unanimously with him.

The opinion didn't reveal the amount of unemployment benefits at stake.

Comments

[YOKEL13]

02:46 AM on 07/31/2011

They weren't hot dogs, they were cold dogs.

[RoccoBoma]

08:37 PM on 07/12/2011

I heard that working for Dillards is like working for the mafia, only more brutal and less Italian.

[kingjohn1956]

03:55 PM on 07/11/2011

Recooked hotdogs that have been in the freezer for two months, sounds real tasty. How do I get a job at this generous place. They should that the world now knows this.

[SAVEME]

08:02 AM on 07/11/2011

The two hotdogs were probably saved from the last picnic.

[Max Shaw]

05:51 PM on 07/11/2011

And yet they fired him anyways. Goes to show that saving money by firing someone for taking food which is of neglible value will always come first these days...What a shame!

[raker]

12:59 PM on 07/10/2011

All the guy won was unemployment benefits? He got screwed. With Amazon.com, who needs Dillard's.

[Ty Treadwell]

10:55 PM on 07/09/2011

To be frank, I don't relish the idea of firing an employee for eating picnic leftovers.---Ty Treadwell, author of Last Suppers: Famous Final Meals from Death Row

http://lastsuppersbook.blogspot.com/

[nohopepope2187]

01:56 AM on 07/11/2011

He's got a lot of benefits to ketchup on!

[Ty Treadwell]

06:28 PM on 07/11/2011

His bosses grilled the poor guy until he confessed.

[KIVPossum]

10:29 PM on 07/09/2011

Freeze cooked hotdogs for two months to bring out for a company picnic? ugh.

[YOKEL13]

02:47 AM on 07/31/2011

You don't expect them to feed that crap to customers, do you?

[SirCoolBreeze]

07:57 PM on 07/09/2011

You value your employees so little that you would serve them 60-day old hot dogs for a company event?
Even Forrest Gump, CEO, knows better than that...

[YOKEL13]

02:48 AM on 07/31/2011

Gump always served shrimp.

[alumcreek]

02:31 PM on 07/09/2011

A store employee was fired once because he unpeeled a banana he was standing in line to pay for. Since he had not paid for it yet he had no right to peel it, I guess.

[YOKEL13]

02:51 AM on 07/31/2011

So did he peel it, or unpeel it? Anyway, he should have been cited for having a naked banana. It just isn't right!

[Nic the wonder puppy]

01:41 PM on 07/09/2011

I once eat 50 hot dogs

[truthinperson]

03:28 PM on 07/09/2011

That's insane! Reminds me of the time I ate 51 hot dogs and a bag of chips!

[kareemachan]

02:42 PM on 07/12/2011

Bad dog!

;-)

[stopnlisten]

12:40 PM on 07/09/2011

Hey! I just realized...they have a camera on the breakroom freezer! That's pretty hilarious in itself.

[stopnlisten]

12:35 PM on 07/09/2011

He should have licked them and put them back....his now! C'mon Labor Day!

[calltoaction]

09:33 AM on 07/09/2011

yeaaa private sector!

[stape45]

01:04 AM on 07/09/2011

We know that wasn't a union job.

[dblueII]

02:27 PM on 07/10/2011

Faved for that. I worked on a hotel where they tried to fire a guy for eating an old bruised banana. Local 6 was all "hell to the no"!

[TMitch2011]

12:48 AM on 07/09/2011

Just what in the hades?