Meta Platforms, Inc., a U.S. technology company that owns popular social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp, has reportedly fired 24 employees at its Los Angeles offices for allegedly misusing their $25 meal credits to buy items like toothpaste, laundry detergent, and wine glasses, according to The Guardian.
The company, which employs 70,000 people around the world, fired these employees the previous week following an investigation that revealed they were “misusing the system,” including having meals delivered to their homes when they were at work.
An anonymous employee earning a $400,000 (308,070 pounds) annual salary confessed to using their meal credits on household goods and groceries like toothpaste and tea.
“On days when I would not be eating at the office, like if my husband was cooking or if I was grabbing dinner with friends, I figured it would be a shame to let the dinner credit go to waste,” the employee stated on Blind, an anonymous messaging platform.
According to the Financial Times, which first reported the story, this employee admitted to the violation when questioned as part of a human resources investigation into the practice and was later fired. “It was almost unreal that this was happening,” the person wrote.
The company was founded by Mark Elliot Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris R Hughes, Andrew McCollum, and Eduardo P. Saverin on February 4, 2004, and has its main offices in Menlo Park, CA.
