Waukesha Hotel Worker Fired After Outbreak
WAUKESHA--A Country Springs Hotel employee claims he was wrongly terminated. The man, who doesn't want to be identified, said he was told he was fired for sanitation reasons.
Dozens of people got sick after a norovirus outbreak at a luncheon at the Country Springs last week.
The man is a former line cook, who feels he was terminated for possibly causing the norovirus outbreak. But he doesn't believe it was his fault.
"I'm the fall guy. I'm the scapegoat," he said. "There's been no proof that I was responsible for bringing a virus to work."
But he admits he was getting over the flu and wasn't feeling 100 percent the day he helped prepare the food for the banquet where dozens of people got sick. Still, he doesn't think he should have lost his job.
"The managers, they knew I was ill, they knew there were other people that were ill. They didn't send me home Sunday and Monday. They sent me home Tuesday. Sunday and Monday they needed me really bad. Tuesday it was not a busy day," he said.
The Wisconsin Food Code says kitchen employees must report if they have flu like symptoms. The Country Springs manager told Today's TMJ4 that's why they "fired one employee for failure to comply with the reporting requirement policies."
Country Springs kitchen employees were also asked to get tested for the norovirus, something this man didn't do. Still, he feels the hotel just needs someone to blame for the outbreak.
"It's a little bit of an injustice," he said.
The Country Springs Hotel steam cleaned the kitchen and sanitized their banquet facilities after the outbreak. No one has gotten sick since.
0 COMMENTS
ADD A COMMENT