DELOITTE & TOUCHE FIRES EMPLOYEE FOR OFF-HOURS ACTIVISM
Accountant Claims WegmansCruelty.com Campaign Caused Wrongful Termination
Rochester, NY (July 15, 2005) – Earlier this week, city resident Jodi Chemes was fired from the Rochester office of Deloitte & Touche because of her involvement in an animal protection campaign against one of Deloitte’s clients. Chemes is a member of Rochester-based Compassionate Consumers, which recently released a 30-minute video depicting cruelty to animals at Wegmans Egg Farm in Wolcott, New York.
Deloitte, operating in nearly 150 countries worldwide, provides accounting services to Wegmans Food Markets. Chemes, a tax accountant, did not work directly on the Wegmans account while employed at Deloitte. According to Chemes, Deloitte claims she violated company policy concerning her personal exchanges with the media. Chemes argues that she did not mention Deloitte in her media communications and therefore did not violate the policy (see included: “External Communications”, sections .P39 and .P40).
Before the video’s release, according to Chemes, Deloitte was well aware that she was an animal advocate and member of a not-for-profit animal welfare charity. On Thursday, July 7, a partner at Deloitte told Chemes that Deloitte and Wegmans were in discussions and that the supermarket chain was upset regarding Chemes’s position at Deloitte. On Monday, July 11, Chemes was fired for speaking out against Wegmans.
“I am disturbed,” says Chemes, “that I was fired for being a member of a group that is devoted to compassion for animals.”
Chemes’s group, Compassionate Consumers recently conducted an investigation and released a film that documents egregious cruelty to animals at Wegmans’ factory egg farm (see news release: Documentary, July 2). Chemes was not part of the investigation, but has spoken out against Wegmans for attacking the activists rather than improving conditions for the animals.
Wegmans Food Markets is headquartered in Rochester and operates 68 stores in four states.
Compassionate Consumers is a Rochester-based organization dedicated to providing the public with information about the treatment of animals on farms and at slaughter. The group is calling for a boycott of battery cage eggs. For more information visit: www.WegmansCruelty.com
Contacts:
Jodi Chemes, 585-267-6336, jodi@compassionateconsumers.org
Adam Durand, 585-944-3345, adam@compassionateconsumers.org
Accountant Claims WegmansCruelty.com Campaign Caused Wrongful Termination
Rochester, NY (July 15, 2005) – Earlier this week, city resident Jodi Chemes was fired from the Rochester office of Deloitte & Touche because of her involvement in an animal protection campaign against one of Deloitte’s clients. Chemes is a member of Rochester-based Compassionate Consumers, which recently released a 30-minute video depicting cruelty to animals at Wegmans Egg Farm in Wolcott, New York.
Deloitte, operating in nearly 150 countries worldwide, provides accounting services to Wegmans Food Markets. Chemes, a tax accountant, did not work directly on the Wegmans account while employed at Deloitte. According to Chemes, Deloitte claims she violated company policy concerning her personal exchanges with the media. Chemes argues that she did not mention Deloitte in her media communications and therefore did not violate the policy (see included: “External Communications”, sections .P39 and .P40).
Before the video’s release, according to Chemes, Deloitte was well aware that she was an animal advocate and member of a not-for-profit animal welfare charity. On Thursday, July 7, a partner at Deloitte told Chemes that Deloitte and Wegmans were in discussions and that the supermarket chain was upset regarding Chemes’s position at Deloitte. On Monday, July 11, Chemes was fired for speaking out against Wegmans.
“I am disturbed,” says Chemes, “that I was fired for being a member of a group that is devoted to compassion for animals.”
Chemes’s group, Compassionate Consumers recently conducted an investigation and released a film that documents egregious cruelty to animals at Wegmans’ factory egg farm (see news release: Documentary, July 2). Chemes was not part of the investigation, but has spoken out against Wegmans for attacking the activists rather than improving conditions for the animals.
Wegmans Food Markets is headquartered in Rochester and operates 68 stores in four states.
Compassionate Consumers is a Rochester-based organization dedicated to providing the public with information about the treatment of animals on farms and at slaughter. The group is calling for a boycott of battery cage eggs. For more information visit: www.WegmansCruelty.com
Contacts:
Jodi Chemes, 585-267-6336, jodi@compassionateconsumers.org
Adam Durand, 585-944-3345, adam@compassionateconsumers.org
posted by a compassionate consumer @ 2:11 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home