A special needs employee with over 20 years of service to a restaurant was terminated this past week. Dennis Peek, 51, was terminated with no advance notice by Wendy’s restaurant in Stanley, NC. Peek’s sister and primary caretaker, Cona Young Turner, tried to speak with management but the conversation didn’t go very far. “She just terminated him, she said she had a job that needed to be done, and he wasn’t doing it,” added Turner.
Turner posted on her personal Facebook page, ““I am heart broken to say they have fired him. They told me he was unable to perform the duties of a normal persons job. His dream was to retire from there some day and he was looking forward to a huge retirement party, we may give him that party and tell him he has retired because he does not understand being fired. I am also looking into a wrongful termination of a special needs employee, wish me luck! I am very disappointed with the management at Wendy’s in Stanley, they have no idea how they hurt my brother!”
Her post was shared more than 12,000 times. Amongst those viewing the post was someone from Wendy’s Corporate. They quickly reached out to Turner and offered him back his job.
Turner has since updated her Facebook post on two separate occasions. The first update was in response to requests for Dennis’ address so that people could write to him. The second update announced to her followers that they had decided not to accept Wendy’s offer, BUT they would be celebrating Dennis’ retirement with a big party. Wendy’s has offered to help pay for some of his party.
The franchise company which owns the Wendy’s that employed Peek, The Carolina Restaurant Group, issued a statement to the media saying that his firing was “a very unfortunate mistake and lapse in protocol. “We are committed to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for our employees and customers, “We value Dennis, have been in touch with his family, and we are looking forward to either welcoming him back to work in the restaurant or to celebrating him in a big way should he choose to retire. Should Dennis retire and ever want to work again, we’ll also be happy to welcome him back.” When asked by a local media outlet whether or not the manager who terminated Peek would be disciplined, the franchise owner responded by saying, “We cannot comment further on personnel matters, but we’re taking appropriate action. This was an unfortunate mistake that we’re working through with the team member, his job coach, and family. We’re also using this as an opportunity to retrain all our teams on our protocols.”
