A San Bernardino County Superior Court judge has ordered the City of Ontario to reinstate an employee who was fired for allegedly stealing a protein bar. The decision follows a lengthy battle between the city and Teamsters Local 1932 that ultimately cost taxpayers $133,866.
It all began in 2018 when police records specialist Gricelda Perez walked into a convenience store to purchase some coffee and string cheese. She also grabbed a $2.99 RxBar. According to Perez, she put it back after looking at its nutritional contents.
To the store’s manager, who was watching on the other side of a surveillance camera, it looked like Perez had put the bar in her pocket. The store manager never confronted her, but instead reported the incident to a detective.
A search of Perez’s car and purse revealed the string cheese wrapper, but no evidence of a protein bar. When the issue was brought to the city’s attention, it hired its own video expert to examine the footage. That expert could not say whether Perez had put the bar in her pocket or not.
Nevertheless, in a 4-1 decision, the Ontario City Council voted to uphold Perez’s termination. She fought back. The city fought back too, spending large sums to ensure she couldn’t get her job back.
An independent arbitrator would declare there was no cause to fire Perez and ordered the city to reinstate her with back pay. Now a court has upheld that decision, leaving Ontario without much recourse.
“What was done should never have occurred,” said Teamsters spokesman Romualdo Sanchez, as quoted by The Daily Bulletin. “It’s truly unbelievable that the city would commit a vast amount of resources to keep this proud mother and hard-working public employee away from her job.”
“There were many times I wanted to give up,” Perez told the publication, “but if it wasn’t for my support system, my family, my friends, my union, my gosh, we wouldn’t be here without them.”
Perez still insists she put the protein bar back on the shelf.