Pregnant Mother Fired For Refusing To Pay For Being Robbed At Gunpoint

640px-PopeyesLife is tough enough for a pregnant, working mother with three kids and one on the way, so when 31-year-old Marissa Holcomb was robbed at gunpoint at her place of business, she probably thought her luck wouldn’t get much worse for a while. But then she got fired for not taking financial responsibility for the robbery, which is utterly ridiculous.

According to RawStory, Holcomb was working at a Popeyes restaurant in Texas on March 30 when a masked gunman burst into the restaurant and made everyone lie down on the floor. He grabbed Holcomb, who was the manager on duty, and told her to give him everything in the safe. She told the armed robber that she did not have access to the safe, but she gave him what was in the cash register. The sum was reportdly just under $400. Luckily for everyone involved, the robber accepted that and left without hurting or killing anyone.

But then Holcomb says her managers told her that she would have to repay the money the robber stole, or she would be fired. It is obviously ridiculous to expect an employee to take financial responsibility for a robbery, especially when she was lucky not to be killed, so Holcomb refused. Then she was allegedly fired, just 36 hours after the robbery.

”I told them I’m not paying nothing,” Holcomb said. ”I just had a gun to me. I’m not paying the money.”

A representative from the Popeyes franchisee reportedly said Holcomb was fired for letting too much money accumulate in the register before moving it to the safe, but Holcomb said the restaurant had been busy that day and the $400 was what the restaurant had made in just an hour.

Being fired right now is obviously especially difficult for Holcomb, because she’s pregnant and has kids to pay for and she says she anticipates having a difficult time finding a new job while pregnant, or with a newborn.

”I mean, who’s going to call me?” she said. ”I’m 5 months pregnant. The fact that I got robbed at gunpoint and it’s like nobody cares.”

This case is ridiculous. It is appalling that a company would try to hold an employee responsible for money stolen during a robbery. What was Holcomb supposed to do, try to fight off the robber with a spork? She did the right thing in handing over the money, and the franchisees should just consider themselves lucky nobody was hurt. It sounds like Holcomb deserves her job back and an apology.

Photo: Wikimedia Creative Commons/WhisperToMe

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