A former manager of a Big Lots store in the Rochester, New York area said he was fired after chasing a shoplifter who had attacked a clerk out of the store and into the parking lot, where he helped police find the suspect.
Pat Guider He told WHEC-TV In an interview at his Irondequite home, he said he saw the shoplifter attack the assistant manager during the incident on May 10. “What I saw was him hitting him like a punch,” he said. [the assistant manager]” said Gaidar, making an uppercut motion with his clenched fist.
“The good thing is, we have such strong faith in God. Because we have such strong faith in God, everything is going to be okay. It’s just going to be difficult.”
Guider also told WHEC that this was the only reason he ever kicked a shoplifter out of his store: “I kick shoplifters out of my store every day. Every single day. We just put it in the system as they requested. This was an assault. This was not shoplifting. This was an assault.”
Guider told police he followed the man from a distance through the store’s parking lot while calling 911 with his location so they could catch him.
The suspect fled, and Guider told WHEC he has been fired over the incident.
“I thought I was doing the right thing,” he told the station.
Guider told WHEC that despite having worked for the company for 20 years and having received a favorable review in March, he was called into the district manager’s office on May 29 and fired over the incident.
In an interview with Guider, the station asked him: “Do you think you did the right thing?”
Guider responded to WHEC: “I think I did the right and fair thing. The right and fair thing.”
According to the outlet, a reporter was unable to find phone numbers for Big Lots’ CEO or public relations officer, so sent emails to the company on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, but had not received a response from Big Lots as of press time.
WHEC said posters posted in Big Lots dining areas warn employees “not to leave the premises to pursue, detain or identify customers.”
A reporter for the network asked Paul Kennealy, an employment lawyer with the law firm Anderberg & Kessler, why Guider had been fired for “attempting to help police pursue a shoplifter.” “How does that happen?”
“The company is probably looking at liability for any interactions between the perpetrator and store employees,” Kennealy told WHEC.
The lawyer added to the station that this may explain why Big Lots “has rules in place that say employees cannot do anything. It’s unfortunate because this individual seems to have been trying to do the right thing.”
“I didn’t put myself at risk. I didn’t put shoppers at risk,” Guider told WHEC.
Guider told WHEC that he is unemployed and that he and his wife, whose two sons are in college, are trying to figure out how to get health insurance. At 62, Guider also told WHEC he’s not sure how easy it will be to find another job.
“The good news is, we have a strong belief in God. We have a strong belief in God. Everything is going to be OK,” he told the station. “It’s just going to be hard. It’s going to be hard.”
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