Reading
Can You Fire a Worker over a Cheese Slice?
Before you start reading, study the following vocabulary:
reliable – spolehlivý
straightforward – poctivý, upřímný
forthcoming – připravený, k dispozici
to fake – padělat, falšovat
dismissal – propuštění
severe – přísný, krutý, tvrdý
What is it like to be a reliable employee? It is important to be honest, straightforward, and forthcoming on the job with management and coworkers. It is important to protect your company's proprietary information, such as copyrighted and trademarked materials, company manuals, program materials, and new projects, services, and inventions in order to prevent corporate espionage and theft. Time sheets and expense reports must be 100% true and accurate. Project reports, especially facts and figures, must not be faked.
Employees should not use company materials or equipment for their own personal purposes and this includes telephones, cell phones, copiers, laptops, PDAs, and the Internet. However, some employers will make an exception in some cases – for example, printing up a few flyers for a charity -- but ask first in order to preserve ongoing trust. Most employers also permit emergency phone calls from and to family members and allow parents to call to check on their children. Absolutely no employee should use company time, equipment, and materials to operate a personal business on company time, such as an Internet sales page.
This all seems clear, but what about a slice of cheese? Yes, cheese! Just a slice of it! That’s not a joke. A McDonald’s employee was fired for giving a colleague an extra piece of cheese on a hamburger.
A Dutch court ruled that the restaurant was wrong. "The dismissal was too severe a measure," the district court in Leeuwarden, in the north of the Netherlands, said in a written judgment. "It is just a slice of cheese."
A written warning would have been a more appropriate punishment, said the court, which ordered the fast-food chain to pay the worker the salary for the remaining five months of her contract – a total of 4,265.47 Euros. The company was also ordered to pay court costs.
The worker was fired at a McDonald's branch in the northern town of Lemmer in March 2009 for giving a colleague on a break a more expensive cheese burger instead of the hamburger she had paid for. McDonald's claimed she had broken the rules, which prohibit any free gifts to family, friends or colleagues.
Questions
What do the following statements mean?
- “A Dutch court RULED” means
- “Make an exception” means
- “Most employers also PERMIT emergency phone calls from and to family members” means
- “The dismissal was too SEVERE” means it was
- “Facts and figures must not be faked” means
Are the following statements about the text correct?
1. The McDonald's internal rules prohibit any free gifts to family, friends or colleagues.
2. The restaurant was ordered by the court to rehire the employee.
3. The reason for firing the McDonald's employee was one extra piece of cheese.
4. A reliable employee should be straightforward.
5. Employees can use company materials or equipment for their own personal purposes.