It’s another story of workplace unrest in a year of renewed labour focus on the local service industry.
Two longtime employees at Freak Lunchbox are no longer with the popular candy store, with one telling The Coast she was fired without cause after organizing staff to voice their concerns.
Tegan Macfarlane, 24, was dismissed from the company’s flagship store on Barrington Street back in August, two years to the day after she was hired. Her coworker and friend, Nicholle, 26, quit at the end of September after five-and-a-half years. (For privacy reasons, Nicholle requested her last name not be published.)
Both say the company’s owners, Jeremy Smith and Erin Schwanz, created an environment where workers felt unheard. They say they repeatedly brought up concerns to management—concerns such as introducing paid 15-minute breaks, getting a slip mat for the front entrance and an anti-fatigue mat for employees standing behind the cash—all to no avail.
An anti-stress mat was brought in for a short while but taken away by the owners who felt it was unsanitary and encouraged employees to stand behind the cash.
“It’s us just going above-and-beyond what our responsibilities are as laid out in the employee handbook and still getting this feeling of mattering less than a used tissue,” says Macfarlane.
So the workers decided to organize. Group meetings were held after-hours, off-site. The employees drafted a letter, asking the owners for a meeting to formally address their concerns.
After Smith found out about the letter, Macfarlane says she received a text cancelling her shift and calling her in for a meeting to “clear the air.” During the meeting, Macfarlane was fired.
The store was “in need of a change,” says Smith.
“It had reached a point where I think [Macfarlane] would be happier somewhere else if she’s starting to nitpick little problems she sees with the business,” he says. “It was definitely necessary, and I’m sorry someone’s feelings got hurt, but it’s over and I’d like people to move on, ideally.”
Nicholle was then offered a promotion to assistant manager, which she says she accepted as a way to “put more space” between owners and staff. In that role, she says she was told to look back through the manager’s old emails to view past orders, which is how she came across messages about herself and Macfarlane.
“There is absolutely no room for this type of drama,” reads one letter from Schwanz’s email address. “Clearing this type of poison out will make all of our lives easier and the store will run better/staff will be happier.”
A week later, Nicholle quit.
Smith says he’s unfamiliar with those emails and declined to verify their contents. The business owner does confirm Nicholle quit because she was no longer comfortable in the workplace after her friend’s dismissal.
“We really just want enthusiastic, bubbly employees,” Smith says. “They were looking for more from a job that couldn’t give them more.”
The proto-organizing efforts of Freak Lunchbox’s staff are not a unique occurrence this year in Halifax. Macfarlane and Nicholle say they were directly inspired by former Smiling Goat employees who opened the co-op Glitter Bean cafe this past summer.
But Freak Lunchbox is no Smiling Goat. As Smith points out, there are no labour violations here. An owner does not need a reason for firing an employee of fewer than 10 years. He paid Macfarlane the required severance and Nicholle left of her own volition. This is the only workplace issue Smith says the company has had among its 40 or so employees, spread across five stores in three provinces.
Three other current and former Freak Lunchbox employees contacted by The Coast, however, back up Macfarlane and Nicholle’s accounts of their workplace. One of those individuals recently contacted the Labour Board to look into the staff’s complaints.
Smith says an investigator visited the Barrington Street location but found no cause for concern. Freak Lunchbox is a “happy, positive environment,” he maintains.
“It really was a negative attitude towards ownership, is what it was,” Smith says about his former employees. “Unfortunately, that’s the structure of a business. There’s an owner.”
Nevertheless, the former Freak Lunchbox staffers hope their story inspires other employees across the city to stand up, together.
“I want it to be better for my friends working there now; better for people I don’t know who might be working there someday,” says MacFarlane.
“The power that we have comes from our relationships with each other and what we can build with each other,” adds Nicholle. “It seems like the power that bosses have over workers’ lives is unchallengeable and unshakeable…But I think the power we have is in working together.”
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This article appears in Dec 20, 2018 – Jan 2, 2019.
In response to the article Labour Concerns at Freak Lunchbox it is apparent that we need to tell our side of the story. No personal malice or disrespect is meant towards anyone.
This business has supported many families over the past 18 years; 5 of our 6 current managers are raising or expecting children.We have accomplished what is rare in a small brick and mortar industry; longevity, continued passion and love for what we do. Of course we could not have made it this far without the contributions of our team and we are extremely grateful for the hundreds of employees we have had over the years.As business owners we must sometimes make difficult decisions in the interest of our business and the people who work for us.
We take serious labour concerns to heart and act swiftly when we are in error. However in this case there were no actual valid infractions and there was more at play than is portrayed in the article.
We are not perfect, we have made many mistakes along the road, but in this case we do not feel this was a newsworthy event but is simply about an employee that disagreed with their termination and continues to seek justification for it.
The staff member that was let go was a part time/casual employee who we regularly accommodated with long term personal leaves from her position. Prior to being relieved of her duty she had received a written warning for drinking alcohol on work premises despite a no alcohol policy implemented, outlined and signed in the terms of her employment agreement. In hindsight we feel this alone should have been enough of a reason for dismissal.The Coast was made aware of this warning but chose to omit this from publication.
Although all of our stores have managers, as owners we are in the flagship store on a daily basis. Not once did she approach us personally to discuss anything that was of concern to her despite her frequent interactions with us.
Upon learning that she was trying to put together a store-wide petition and organize a meeting with the owners (despite having a manager) we preemptively spoke to each employee individually letting them know that they could come to us if ever there was an issue that our manager could not address.
Aside from the individual in question, everyone said they felt supported and enjoyed their jobs.
During the meeting with her, she confessed that the social group she had created at Freak Lunchbox was incredibly tight and they spent many hours together after work. We felt this social group was becoming increasingly unaware of the boundary between their work and social environments. The biggest issue she brought forward was that the staff did not feel validation from the owners. This never crossed our minds as being a problem as some of our staff in other provinces have never even met us. Also, prior to moving into our current location, owner offices were offsite and this was never a concern.
The decision to let this individual go with no hard feelings and severance was based on her morale issues and the negative work environment she had contributed to and how it was affecting new hires as well as long term staff. In no way was it based on any legitimate labour board concerns.
*Regarding her ‘labour concerns’:
-an anti-slip mat over the Arcade mosaic that has been a part of this heritage property since the 60s
-requesting anti fatigue mats for a job that specifically requires you to not stand still and be out on the floor interacting with customers or maintaining product freshness.
(The advice from the inspector was for our staff to get better shoes)
*Staff breaks are assigned as per the legal labour board guidelines, staff are free to leave premises at will during their unpaid breaks
To compare our actions with those of the Smiling Goat is downright offensive.We pay our staff on time and well. (The employees mentioned in the article were both being paid well above minimum wage). We at Freak Lunchbox aim to provide a clean, enjoyable work environment. We have store managers who are available to the employees and regularly review and provide feedback on performance. They work in a candy store surrounded by our personal details, hand painted artwork, happy customers and general pride of ownership that has propelled us from a small 2-person company to a small 40+ person company.
We feel the retention rate of our staff in this industry is exceptional and the happy ex-employees far outweigh those who feel they were wrongfully dismissed. It is important for employees to have a voice when they are wronged, but we stand behind our decision in this case.
Erin Schwanz and Jeremy Smith
Freak Lunchbox
“We felt this social group was becoming increasingly unaware of the boundary between their work and social environments.”
Err, you don’t get to dictate what your employees do or with whom outside of work. That’s super fucked up.