Evansville Man Fired for Eating Hot Dogs Wins Court Case
July 19, 2011
Have you heard yet about the Evansville, Indiana, man who was fired after eating a hot dog on the job? There’s no real punchline here, but after Nolan Koewler was fired from his job last year at Dillards, he took his former employer to court to ensure that the joke was on them.
A panel of three judges recently decided that Koewler was unjustifiably fired on July 5, 2010. The day before he was fired the man had attended a July Fourth cookout held for employees by Dillards. At the event’s end, the manager said that the leftover food should be taken to the break room freezer to eat on Labor Day.
Koewler says he never heard those instructions and the day after the cookout he ate two of the leftover hot dogs that were in the break room. This act was captured on surveillance video.
According to the case summary, “At a meeting with the store manager, Koewler admitted the truth of the allegation. A police officer was summoned, and the store manager advised Koewler that he had a choice: sign a statement that he stole two leftover hotdogs from the Fourth of July independence celebration for employees or spend the night in jail. Koewler signed a statement admitting theft. He was then discharged from his employment.”
The man was then denied unemployment benefits.
On July 7, 2011, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that there was no proof that Koewler knew of the instructions not to eat the hot dogs and that Dillards must pay Koewler unemployment benefits.
If you or someone you know has been involved in an Indiana injury or accident, the Indiana lawyers at Woods and Woods can help.
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