Amir Shedyak Vermont Hannaford grocery store worker fired after stopping purse thief. How corporate policy triumphs individual acts of goodwill.
A Vermont grocery store clerk who chased down a purse thief has told of being fired.
Amir Shedyak, 20, who had worked four years at a Hannaford grocery store, had just started a shift last month when a customer flagged him down, WCAX reports.
‘And he was like, ‘an old lady’s purse just got stolen,’’ Shedyak told WCAX. ‘I look to my right and I see a gentleman running across the parking lot and he had the purse in his hand.’
Shedyak, who also works as a volunteer firefighter, caught up to the man, identified as Adrian Moore, 29. Shedyak grabbed him from behind and held him down. Shedyak managed to get back the woman’s purse. However, as he called police, Moore was able to run off.
Police later arrested and charged Moore with larceny.
Corporate liability at stake
‘She was trying to offer me money. ‘I don’t want your money, just wanted to help you out, do what’s right,’’ Shedyak recalled saying after returning the woman’s stolen purse.
Shedyak said rather then be commended for his actions, the Good Samaritan was fired.
‘We do not comment on personnel matters,’ the grocery store said.
‘It’s not like I was going to do this to be some hero. I was like, ‘Hey, an old lady’s purse just got stolen, I want to do something about it,’’ Shedyak said.
Local attorney Pietro Lynn said Shedyak was likely fired so the store wouldn’t be sued.
‘It is not uncommon at all for employers to discourage employees from laying hands on customers,’ Lynn told WCAX3. ‘There are many cases in Vermont where employers are held responsible for the wrongful acts of their employees.’
Shedyak said he was able to find another job while social media commentators wondered whether he should ever have ought to in the first place while lamenting ‘corporate policy.’
Posted Rebekah Martin, ‘Unfortunately with any corporate business this is the likely outcome because if anyone gets hurt whether it’s you the bad guy or a bystander the company is liable for that and at that point you are just a hole in their money bags, they can’t risk having that kind of lawsuit waiting to happen so it’s easier to replace you with someone less risky.’
While Steve Piela posted, ‘Whether you all think what he did was right or not, he signed a document stating he would not do something and he did it anyway. Every corporation had these same rules. Shaws, Price Chopper, Market Basket, Best Buy, Walmart… literally every one.’
