Lululemon Employees Fired for Confronting Looters Robbing the Store [Updated]

Rachel Rogers was employed as a sales associate at the Lululemon store in Peachtree Corners, Ga., for five years. But after the same group of looters attacked the store for the fourth or fifth time, making off with thousands of dollars in merchandise, she called 911.

Assistant Manager Jennifer Ferguson described the scene. “All of a sudden we see some gentlemen run into the store in masks and hoodies,” Ferguson said, “They swiped until they couldn’t hold any more product and ran out the door.”

But a week later, Rogers was fired. She had apparently run afoul of a company policy that had a “zero tolerance” for “engaging with perpetrators,” according to Lululemon.

“We are not supposed to get in the way. You kind of clear path for whatever they’re going to do,” Ferguson said, “And then, after it’s over, you scan a QR code. And that’s that. We’ve been told not to put it in any notes, because that might scare other people. We’re not supposed to call the police, not really supposed to talk about it.”

Ferguson’s husband, James, described the fallout his wife and Ms. Rogers were subjected to. The Daily Mail:

So, this crew is in jail. Partly because of the courageous and brave actions of Jenn and the other employee.

This is where my blood begins to boil. These are two exemplary employees, both leaders and looking to advance within the company. And what was their reward? They were immediately terminated without mention of severance or any financial consideration. Then, as the two terminated employees compared notes on their zoom call experiences, it comes out that the Regional Manager for Lululemon openly questioned why they would call the police. Stating that it would “look bad for Lululemon to be the company calling the police”. Are you kidding me? These ladies are heroes of sorts. They did what we all HOPE we could do in a similar situation. They were brave and courageous and honest and good citizens.

Retail businesses have apparently decided to accept the huge losses in merchandise taken by organized gangs who have woken up to the fact that no one really wants to arrest and prosecute them. “Shoplifting” or felony theft are “victimless crimes,” we’re told.

We, the consumers, pay for these crimes through ever higher costs for merchandise and shopping in an unsafe environment.

Which brings me to my closing remarks. I do not and likely you do not want our area to end up like San Francisco or Portland, where retailers are pulling out of the cities due to theft and crime. Where citizens are afraid to go to certain areas because the police are not or will not be called. If we, citizens of the community, allow criminal activity to go unchecked, that is tacit approval for them to continue their ways. This is not what our country, state, or community are about. Law and Order must have a respected place and criminal activity must be punished. Furthermore, brave and courageous citizens and employees should be commended, not punished, for taking a stand.

The brazenness of these criminals is matched in intensity by the stupidity and fear of management. Metro Atlanta will become more and more like San Francisco and Portland — and all other major cities — because they refused to learn the lessons of big cities in the 1980s and ’90s.

“Broken windows” lead to a broken society.

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that the employees were fired for calling 9/11. A company spokesman said in an email that “The two employees at our Peachtree Corners location in Georgia were not terminated for calling the police. They were terminated for knowingly violating our zero-tolerance policy related to physically engaging with the perpetrators which put their lives and the safety of our guests and other employees at risk. Employees are able and instructed to call 911 when needed, and that was not the cause of termination in this case.”