Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, has reportedly fired 24 Los Angeles employees for misusing meal allowances. These workers used their $25 meal credits to buy items such as toothpaste, laundry detergent, and even wine glasses.
Meta, a tech giant that also owns WhatsApp, is valued at over $1.5 trillion. The company carried out an investigation and found some staff members were abusing the meal credit system. Some were sending food home even when they weren’t in the office.
One worker, who earns $400,000 a year, admitted to using these credits to buy household items such as toothpaste and tea. This led to their dismissal, along with others involved in similar activities.
An anonymous worker on the messaging platform Blind shared their side of the story, saying: “On days where I would not be eating at the office, like if my husband was cooking or if I was grabbing dinner with friends, I figured I ought not to waste the dinner credit.”
Meta fires 24 employees for misusing the company's meal voucher system in LA. Instead of meals, employees bought items like toothpaste and wine glasses. Not related to IT layoffs, but a serious policy breach.
#Meta #EmployeeMisconduct #TechNews pic.twitter.com/VbSnDh69wJ
— Ajay Tomar | अजय तोमर (@ajay_tomar1) October 18, 2024
The employee acknowledged the violation when questioned during a human resources investigation on the misuse of meal credits and was subsequently fired. “It was almost surreal that this was happening,” the worker wrote, according to the Financial Times, which initially reported the incident.
Meta employees buying “acne pads” with meal credits
Some Meta employees misused their meal credits, using them instead to buy non-food items such as acne pads, according to reports. While some workers were fired, others who only broke the rules occasionally were given warnings and were allowed to keep their jobs.
In the tech world, free food has been a popular perk for employees. At Meta’s larger offices, such as its Silicon Valley headquarters, staff usually enjoy free meals in the company’s canteens. This practice has been a staple of workplace benefits in the tech industry, offering a convenient way for employees to eat while at the office.
At Meta’s smaller offices, employees are given meal credits instead of on-site food. These daily credits, used on platforms like UberEats and Grubhub, amount to $20 for breakfast, $25 for lunch, and another $25 for dinner.
In 2022, Meta made a controversial decision to push its free dinner service at the Silicon Valley campus from 6:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The change, part of cost-cutting efforts, upset many staff members. The later dinner time clashed with the last shuttle at 6:00 p.m., making it harder for employees to eat at the office or take leftovers home.
Large tech firms are following a trend of cutting back on employee benefits. Google, for example, started limiting access to fitness classes and reduced the frequency of laptop replacements.
