Meta fired employees who used their daily food delivery stipend to buy groceries

Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg have come under fire after reports that the company fired a handful of employees at its Los Angeles offices for abusing a meal benefit that allowed them to to eat lunch during working hours.

The $1.2 trillion tech giant appears to have a problem with its workers using their food credit to buy personal items, even if it seemed like a minor infraction.

Meta reportedly fired employees who had used their food stipend to purchase food.

According to posts on social media site for tech professionals Blind, via Fortune, the layoffs are said to have occurred last week, with an estimated 24 employees being let go from their positions at Meta’s Los Angeles offices. In a post on Blind, a Meta employee explained that employees received a $25 GrubHub credit if they worked after 6 p.m. in offices that didn’t have an on-site cafeteria.

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The fired employees apparently ordered meals when they were not in the offices, exchanged credits with other employees, or used the credits to purchase personal items such as groceries and other household essentials.

An unnamed worker earning $400,000 reportedly said he used his food credit to purchase household goods and groceries such as toothpaste and tea.

Another person familiar with the situation claimed that other workers ordered items such as laundry detergent, wine glasses and acne pads.

In the anonymous message, an employee wrote, “On days when I didn’t eat at the office, like when my husband was cooking or I was having dinner with friends, I thought I shouldn’t waste the meal credit.”

When approached as part of an HR investigation into this practice, the employee admitted the violation and was later fired. “It was almost surreal that this was happening,” the person wrote, according to the Financial Times.

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The main criticism is that Meta’s reasons for firing their employees seemed a bit bizarre considering how much the tech giant is worth.

The ability to get free food is a constant perk for tech company employees, and Meta is no exception. The company typically provides free meals to its employees in cafeterias at its larger offices, including its headquarters in Silicon Valley.

However, those in smaller locations will receive daily credits for ordering food through delivery services like Uber Eats and Grubhub. The daily allowance is $20 for breakfast, $25 for lunch and $25 for dinner.

If you give employees a lunch allowance, then it’s technically their money, and if they want to use it to order food that’s becoming increasingly expensive, they should be allowed to do so.

In fact, in 2023, 13.5% of households in the United States suffered from food insecurity, meaning they had difficulty providing all members of their household with enough food, a much higher percentage compared to 2022.

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Meta is worth too much money to be offended enough to have their employees spend money given to them freely.

Frankly, it falls into the same category as telling employees how to use their sick days or paid vacation days, because employees should be given the freedom to use their benefits and perks in ways that make sense to them.

Currently, many meta employees are not particularly impressed with the company in general. An internal Vox meta-survey found that only 28% of employees who took part in the survey expressed positive feelings about their optimism for the company.

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Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news and lifestyle writer whose work explores contemporary issues and experiences.