Shakayla Dixon Burger King manager mom fired over claims of nepotism and overpaying her teen son and his three friends after viral photos of the new hires led to questions.
A Mississippi mom has been fired from a local Burger King she managed after viral photos showing her recently hiring her teen son and three of his friends led to accusations of nepotism along with claims that the mom had purposely paid the new workers the adult rate as opposed to the rate young workers receive.
Shakayla Dixon of Clinton, believed she was doing the right thing when she got her 15-year-old son and his three friends a job at the fast food restaurant she managed.
Soon after having brought on her new hires, the fast food manager shared images of her son and the teen boys on social media, with photos going viral.
Nepotism hire
But that’s when a regional manager took notice and investigated the new hires before sacking not just the new hires but the manager mom as well amid accusations of nepotism.
Food bosses allege Dixon abused her position as manager when she overlooked other potential candidates (welcome to the way of the world…) to bring on her teen son and his friends along with paying her son Corderrion Valentine (and his teen friends) too much money.
Dixon defending her actions, told WLBT she hired Valentine and his friends to keep them off the streets while also allowing them to earn money over the summer holiday.
Valentine agreed with his mom that it had kept him from getting into trouble.
‘I felt like it was a good thing because we could have really been out doing violence or shooting or killing, but we went out and worked,’ the teen told WLBT, referring to the widespread violent crime in the metro.
Dixon said she was called in by the area manager and district leader following ‘concerns’ over the new hires after her shared images went viral.
How could mom not know she was overpaying teens?
‘The concerns were the fact that Corderrion is my son and how much money they were getting paid,’ the mom told WLBT.
‘She told me that a minor is supposed to get paid differently than what an adult gets paid.’ she explained.
‘It was never brought to my attention beforehand.’
(But shouldn’t she know anyway as manager as per her former job description?)
Valentine told the outlet he was devastated to have lost his summer job.
‘I felt like it was a good thing because we could have really been out doing violence or shooting or killing, but we went out and worked,’ the teen said, referring to the widespread violent crime in the metro.
‘I felt like it was a fun experience to get you ready for the real world.’
However, he is still hopeful that his efforts to get a job and stay off the streets will serve as a good example to other kids.
‘I hope that it portrayed a lot of people to do things good and stop the violence,’ he said.
Job losses following higher minimum wages in fast food industry and move to automation
The firings come as the fast food chain recently announced it would be cutting costs by rolling out self-order kiosks to a further 1,100 of its restaurants.
It is the latest stage of the fast food chain’s bid to revamp outlets and cut costs – with kiosks potentially leading to fewer staff and lower wage expenses.
Bosses now say the company has plans for 85 to 90 percent of its 7,000 outlets across the US – around 5,950 to 6,300 – to get the new ordering technology in the next four years.
It comes after franchisees in California said they were already replacing staff with the digital ordering kiosks as a way to cut costs after the minimum wage in the state was increased to $20-an-hour.
The new wage floor has since led to over 10,000 job losses in the fast food industry since the new law being signed in over the fall according to the Hoover Institute.
