Pizza Hut GM: I Tried to Close on Thanksgiving, Got Fired

Tony Rohr said employees should get Thanksgiving off
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 27, 2013 11:22 AM CST
Pizza Hut GM: I Tried to Close on Thanksgiving, Got Fired
In this handout photo provided by Pizza Hut, shows the new hand-tossed pizza. For years, Pizza Hut was a passive player in competing for fans of hand-tossed-style pizza, which represents a big slice of the market. That's about to change starting next week, when the nation's largest pizza maker will...   (AP Photo/Pizza Hut-HO)

A Pizza Hut general manager didn't think his workers should have to come in on Thanksgiving, and his bosses disagreed. Now, Tony Rohr, whose Elkhart, Indiana, location is owned by Franchise Management Investors US, says he has been fired. After being told that he had to stay open tomorrow, Rohr let bosses know his position. "I said, 'Why can't we be the company that stands up and says we care about our employees and they can have the day off?'" he tells WSBT. Superiors told him he could stay open or he could step down, Gawker reports.

Rohr, who's worked at the store for a decade, wrote his response in a letter: "I do not resign; however, I accept that the refusal to comply with this greedy, immoral request means the end of my tenure with this company." He added, "I hope you realize that it's the people at the bottom of the totem pole that make your life possible." One of Rohr's bosses contests his account, saying the GM wasn't fired but quit; he said the order to open came from corporate, which is getting quite the beating on Facebook. Whole Foods, meanwhile, is facing a Thanksgiving backlash of its own. Workers in two Chicago stores are planning a walkout today over being required to work on the holiday, Salon reports. Costco and Nordstrom, on the other hand, are among stores refusing to join in on Black Thursday. (More Tony Rohr stories.)

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