The press has certainly had all guns blazing this week for Total Clean’s head of operations Graham Petersen, hasn’t it? By golly – those publications couldn’t have worked any harder to convince readers he’s a cold, uncaring manager, effectively bullying a struggling, single-mum by sacking her for eating a leftover sandwich when she cleaned up after a meeting at a client’s premises - which could well have been destined for the bin anyway! It all came across a bit ‘David and Goliath’. There were pictures of him floating, suntanned, in an overseas pool, as if he was filthy rich and didn’t have a care in the world, along with pictures of sacked cleaner Gabriela’s colleagues, rallying for her reinstatement, and Gabriela too – understandably looking sorry for herself. Under the circumstances, it would be so easy to be swayed into thinking that sacking Gabriela was way over the top and that the issue should perhaps have been dealt with in a different way – perhaps by a disciplinary. I was feeling that way myself for a while and wondered whether there might be something more behind it, so did a bit of digging. 

  

My conclusions? Established in 1988, TotalClean is a family-run business with many, very long-standing clients posting great reviews. It’s also an Corporate Membership of the British Institute of Cleaning Science but is not, according to the Cleaning & Support Services Association's website, a CSSA member. Gabriela was earning decent money, bearing in mind that the National Living Wage for over 23s set by the Government is £10.42/hr across the UK and she was on, according to the reports, £13/hr which is just 15p below the Living Wage foundation’s £13.15/hr London rating and way above £12/hour national rating. 

  

I understand that in Gabriela’s case she’d previously been offered leftover food and felt that a precedent had been set. I get that. I also get that by taking the sandwich, she caused a loss of faith in her integrity and had breached her contract. 

  

It’s a toughie, isn’t it? I daresay that every day, a cleaning contractor somewhere in the world is struggling with a decision on whether to sack, discipline or simply reprimand an employee who’s taken something they’d considered to be rubbish, rather than leave it where it was or bin it. Where do you draw the line though? Be lenient and worry that the practice will spread amongst other staff, with items taken becoming more valuable and potentially leading to the loss of the contract, or be tough, use any transgressions to set an example and ensure that all employees know not to remove anything at all from the premises unless given express permission to do so. 

  

Where would you draw the line? Have you, as an employer, faced such a decision and how did you handle things? Please do let me know.