Workers Decry Tactics as Supermarket Sacks Many in Pilferage Investigation

As many as one-third of the employees at an Agoura Hills supermarket have been fired in a storeroom security crackdown that allegedly uncovered thefts ranging from tiny bakery samples to cases of beer.

Up to 19 box boys, wrappers, cashiers and clerks were reportedly caught in a two-week security sweep that ended Monday at the Ralphs Grocery Co. store at 5727 Kanan Road.

A company official said Ralphs security agents conducted the undercover investigation after a “large inventory shrinkage” was discovered at the store, in an upper-middle class residential neighborhood 10 miles west of the San Fernando Valley.

But the firings have prompted a flurry of complaints from workers who claim that, after undergoing hours of interrogation by company security agents, they were tricked into confessing to acts as minor as nibbling food.

Began With Drug Probe

Ralphs officials said Tuesday that the investigation occurred after company agents went to the store last month to assist Los Angeles County sheriff’s detectives in a drug probe involving two employees.

It remained unclear how many employees were actually fired in the resulting sweep.

The number at different times was put at 11 and 15 by the company, but employees said at least 19 of the store’s approximately 60 workers were suspended and then fired.

Although supermarkets often have problems with theft, the crackdown was unusual, according to grocery union officials. However, Ralphs has developed a reputation as a security-conscious chain by firing numbers of workers at stores in Woodland Hills, La Crescenta and Glendale, they said.

Company officials refused to detail losses at the store. Several fired workers--such as an 18-year-old box boy who said he stole five cases of beer over an eight-month period--admitted pilferage when questioned by a reporter.

Ate Slice of Pastry

But cashier Tina Smallen, 20, said she was fired after admitting to eating a tiny slice of pastry that had been left on a bakery counter as a sample. She said the nibbling occurred about a year ago.

Smallen said she was questioned for two hours by a pair of security agents who repeatedly demanded to know how much money she had taken from her cash register and how many groceries she had slipped out the back door.

“They said they wanted to ‘jog my memory,’ ” said Smallen, a store employee for 1 1/2 years. “They said more groceries were going out than money was coming in.”

The agents finally asked her to write a statement about eating the bakery sample, she said.

“They said the letter would help me out. One of them said, ‘Here, let me show you how to start it out.’ I signed it because I didn’t want to get in trouble,” Smallen said.

Admits Eating Pistachio Nut

Clerk Jeff Pard, 21, said he was fired after acknowledging that he once ate a single pistachio nut.

“I told them I ate it to check out customer complaints about the pistachios,” said Pard, who worked five years for the company and is a mathematics and physics student at Moorpark College.

“They kept asking me about eating cookies and about drugs. I’m 6 feet 2 and 160 pounds and I’m training to run in a marathon and I told them I don’t eat sweets or do drugs. They said it was awfully strange that someone my age hadn’t tried drugs,” Pard said.

Wrapper Wendy Peterson, 19, said she was fired for leaving the store and visiting in the parking lot with her boyfriend during a work break.

Peterson said security agents who questioned her said they had videotaped evidence of her stealing. When she denied any theft and demanded to see the tape, the agents were unable to produce it, she said.

“They said they could make it so I would never work at Ralphs or anywhere else again,” Peterson said. “They said they could make it really good for me or really bad.”

No Surveillance Cameras

Jan Charles Gray, a senior vice president for the 126-store Ralphs chain, said no surveillance cameras were used at the Agoura Hills store. He said the number of persons fired was “significant,” although he described the company investigation as routine.

Brad Jackson, assistant manager of the Agoura Hills store, said the security agents worked in a professional manner.

“They’re not rent-a-cops,” he said. “They’re experienced. It’s not the old days where they sit there and beat heads.”

Jackson, who ordered some of the firings in the absence of the regular store manager, said market workers had signed employment agreements that specifically stated that stealing is a dismissal offense. “How much clearer could it be?” Jackson asked.

“Thievery is thievery, whether it’s 10 cents or $10,” said Gene Brown, Ralphs senior vice president in charge of employment.

Observed No Thefts

Sheriff’s detectives who assisted in the original narcotics surveillance at the market said they observed no thefts.

In the drug investigation, two wrappers, ages 21 and 22, were arrested after small amounts of cocaine were found at their homes, sheriff’s Sgt. Lance Galletch said.

The firings have so far prompted five grievances from workers who claimed they were unjustly ousted, officials of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 770 said Tuesday.

“Other employers conduct investigations but they don’t employ the tactics of Ralphs,” said Barry Bagus, a union supervisor. “They work on young people who don’t know better . . . when the company extracts a written statement, it’s hard to get their jobs back.”

At the supermarket, remaining employees said they believe some of their former colleagues were unjustly fired.

“I’m in management, but I’m going to stick up for them,” produce manager Dave Louthan said. “They were railroaded. Everybody thinks it’s a cheap-shot deal.”