Boss offered $10 to workers to guess who would be fired next

Employees walked out on a convenience store owner in Iowa after he introduced a contest to predict which worker would be fired next, the Des Moines Register reports.

In March, William Ernst, 57, who owns a chain of stores called QC Mart, sent employees a memo entitled “New Contest – Guess The Next Cashier Who Will Be Fired!!!” In it, he encouraged employees to write the name of the next cashier they thought would be fired on a piece of paper and seal it in an envelope. The memo explained:

“If the name in your envelope has the right answer, you will win $10 CASH. Only one winner per firing unless there are multiple right answers with the exact same name, date, and time. Once we fire the person, we will open all the envelopes, award the prize, and start the contest again.

And no fair picking Mike Miller from (the Rockingham Road store). He was fired at around 11:30 a.m. today for wearing a hat and talking on his cell phone. Good luck!!!!!!!!!!”

QC Mart cashier Misty Shelsky told the Des Moines Register that she and her store manager, along with a few other employees, quit as soon as they saw the memo. “It was very degrading,” she said. “We looked at that, then looked at each other, and said, ‘OK, we’re done.’

When Shelsky claimed unemployment benefits, Ernst challenged her application, saying she had resigned voluntarily, the Des Moines Register reports.

But Administrative Law Judge Susan D. Ackerman ruled that Shelsky was eligible to receive unemployment benefits after quitting because the contest was “egregious and deplorable,” MSNBC reports.

“The employer’s actions have clearly created a hostile work environment by suggesting its employees turn on each other for a minimal monetary prize. The claimant has established this was an intolerable and detrimental work environment,” Ackerman wrote in her decision, according to MSNBC.