Popeyes Manager Fired After Armed Robbery Returns To Work Tomorrow, Announces Plans To Sue

(KHOU 11)

Last week, we shared the story of a Popeyes shift manager who was fired after an armed robbery while she was on duty. Depending on whether you ask the manager or the franchisee, she was fired for refusing to pay back the $400 taken in the robbery, or for keeping too much money in the cash drawer at a time. After the story made headlines nationwide, she received a job offer and an apology from the store’s owner, and says that she plans to sue for emotional distress.

KHOU reports (auto-play video) that the manager’s attorney has sent the local franchisee a letter about her demand for $5.5 million for emotional distress. The company has 30 days to respond to her demand.

It’s understandable that she felt distressed: living through an armed robbery is stressful enough, but she had abruptly lost her job while pregnant and responsible for her three other children.

The manager maintains that even if her mistake was keeping too much cash in the register at a time, they were so busy in the period before the robbery that she didn’t have time to deposit cash in the safe, and the $400 taken represented only about an hour’s sales.

She had accepted a job with a different local Popeyes restaurant: it’s not clear whether that location has the same owner as the franchise that fired her.

Popeye’s manager fired after robbery, asking for $5.5M [KHOU]