A cleaner is suing a City law firm which earns £46million a year after she claims she was fired for eating a leftover sandwich.
The single mother from Ecuador launched the claim after she worked for an agency that was contracted to London corporate law firm Devonshires.
Details of What Happened
Representatives of the United Voices of the World union, which supports migrant workers, said she was sacked just before Christmas.
Gabriela Rodriguez, 39, was said to have been fired from her £13-an-hour job for the ‘theft’ of a leftover tuna sandwich which was due to be thrown away after a meeting.
Statement From Company
The firm contacted her company, Total Clean, to complain that leftover sandwiches were not being returned.
She was then let go for taking ‘client property…without authority or reasonable excuse,’ she told The Sun, and is now suing for unfair dismissal.
UVW is Not Taking it
In a social media campaign, the United Voices of the World union said the value of the sandwich in question – which some sources claimed contained egg and not tuna – cost no more than £1.50.
The union said on Facebook: ‘Quick placard and banner making session today in preparation for our action next week in solidarity with Gabriela.
‘Gabriela is an Ecuadorian single mother who after two years cleaning the offices of a corporate law firm was summarily sacked just before Christmas on grounds of “theft” – the “theft” in question being a £1.50 Tesco tuna sandwich that she ate which was left over from a lawyers’ meeting, and was due to be discarded.
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‘Sacking cleaners on ridiculous grounds like this – treating them like the dirt they clean – is not uncommon though is always outrageous and in UVW we always fight back.
Court Battle is ON
‘We are taking the case to court but that takes time, and justice delayed is justice denied, so in the meantime we’ll be doing what we do best and fighting back through direct action.’
But a spokesperson for the law firm told The Times they had not made a formal complaint and ‘expressly told’ the cleaning contractor to not take any action.
In a statement to the newspaper, Total Clean said the action they took was ‘to maintain the integrity of our workforce and service by ensuring we deal appropriately with any actions that undermine the hard work and reputation of our incredible team who conduct themselves impeccably’.
It added: ‘Trust and honesty is of paramount importance.’
