GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — The CEO of Lululemon has spoken out about the firing of two employees at a Gwinnett County location, following a robbery back in May.
The situation soon went viral with the two women employed claiming they were fired for simply calling the police.
11Alive reached out to Lululemon corporate, and a communications firm reached out on behalf of a company spokesperson, claiming the employees were not fired for calling the police, but for rather "engaging with the perpetrators" which can put themselves and guests in harms way. (Read the full statement at the end of this story.)
That statement was essentially echoed by Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald on an episode of Squawk on the Street in early June.
"We have a zero-tolerance policy that we train our educators on around engaging with a theft...we put the safety of our team and our guests front and center. It's only merchandise. In the end, they're trained to step back, let the left occur, know that there's technology, there's cameras, and we're working with law-enforcement," he explained, adding that the employees "knowingly broke the policy and engaged with the thieves across multiple points, including following them out of the store.
Gwinnett Police Department confirmed to 11Alive that there have been a few robberies in the area. According to a police report, the three thieves at the Peachtree Corner's Lululemon are now facing felony robbery charges.
Read the full statement from the company spokesperson below:
“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. We are grateful no one was hurt during this altercation. At lululemon, our people’s safety is our number one priority, which includes an absolute zero-tolerance policy for our employees engaging with guests in a way that could put themselves, or others, in harm’s way. We have longstanding protocols in place to uphold a safe environment in our stores, and our view is that no amount of merchandise in a store is worth our educators putting themselves at risk. Our focus is on continuing to support our employees and creating a safe shopping environment for our guests, as well as continuing to collaborate with local partners and law enforcement to ensure our stores remain safe.”