Although by strict definition Devonshires as an organisation didn’t engineer her sacking it’s obvious that an individual at the firm gave the contract company employing her the flimsiest of excuses to dump her in case they lost their contract. Nobody come out of this well except for the innocent cleaner.
Roll on Friday report
A cleaner has been fired for eating a leftover sandwich she found in a law firm’s meeting room, it has been alleged.
Gabriela, a single mother from Ecuador, cleaned the offices of Devonshires Solicitors for two years until she was summarily sacked just before Christmas by her employer, private contractor Total Clean.
Her alleged crime was to have eaten a £1.50 tuna* sandwich from Tesco that had been left over from a meeting and was due to be discarded.
The breach was so abhorrent that Devonshires, whose highest-paid member received £1.68 million in 2023, allegedly complained to Total Clean, resulting in her dismissal. A spokesperson for the firm told RollOnFriday that it did not make a “formal complaint”.
According to her supporters, Gabriela appealed the decision but Total Clean refused to reinstate her on the basis that “theft is theft” and because it did not want to upset Devonshires.
Supporters also appealed to the 235-lawyer firm directly, but they said it “showed no good will and refused to support Gabriela’s case”.
Around 30 people protested outside Devonshires’ office this week where they handed out leaflets titled “I ATE A LEFTOVER TUNA SANDWICH AND GOT SACKED!”
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