 [News] PetSmart Employee Fired for Bringing Dog to Work
by Kirsten Taylor (Subscribe to Kirsten Taylor's posts)
Jan 22nd 2010 @ 2:00PM Filed Under: Pets News
Flickr/Dan4th
PetSmart encourages customers to bring their pets to the store when they shop. But when it comes to employees' pets? Not so much.
PetSmart gave New Jersey resident Eric Favetta the axe after he brought his 3-year-old Belgian malinois, Gizmo, to work with him one night, the (Newark) Star-Ledger reported.
According to the Star-Ledger, Favetta, a former dog handler at military units in Afghanistan and Bahrain, had worked as an operations manager at PetSmart since July 2008. Last spring, because of his success cleaning up the Wayne, N.J., store, he was transferred to the busy Seacaucus, N.J., store to help make improvements.
One night in December, PetSmart staff asked Favetta to work a special overnight shift to get the store spiffed up for a viewing the following day by potential business partners. "I brought my dog with me because I knew if I didn't, he would have been home alone all day and all night until I returned home at 6 a.m. the next day," Favetta told the Star-Ledger.
Favetta put Gizmo in the store's empty daycare facility and got to work. Two weeks later, he was fired for "theft of service."
PetSmart spokeswoman Jessica White told the Star-Ledger that the daycare service is an item the company charges for, just like the toys and treats on the store shelves. Using the facilities for free, she said, qualified as theft.
But Favetta, who had a spotless record, was shocked. He believed it was an excuse to get rid of him, since he butted heads with his manager. "It makes me sick that because I brought my dog to work with me when the store was closed to do the company a favor, I was called a thief and terminated," he told the Star-Ledger.
The day after the Star-Ledger started asking questions, PetSmart's human resources director called Favetta to discuss the story, the newspaper reported. Two days later, she offered Favetta his job back. He accepted, but soon after was offered a job as a dog handler for a company that uses dogs to sniff out hazards. He decided to place his bets with the new company rather than return to PetSmart.
Sounds like a happy ending to us.
__________________ The fullness of our heart is expressed in our eyes, in our touch, in what we write, in what we say, in the way we walk, the way we receive, the way we need. -Mother Teresa ( RIP Gizmo 3/9/07-8/18/12)  |