Judge sides with grocery store employee who was fired for thwarting shoplifter in California: 'The dumbest cruelest incident'

An attorney for a single mom fired from a grocery store for confronting a shoplifter lambasted the company and said they were considering suing for lost wages after a judge sided with his client last week.

Safeway grocery stores fired Antoinette Baez after she stopped a shoplifter who had tried to walk out of their store in San Mateo in 2023 with more than $500 worth of merchandise, according to her attorney.

The retail chain has a policy that employees should not touch shoplifters, according to attorney Neil Eisenberg.

Baez says she did not touch the shoplifter but tried to grab at the grocery bags she was trying to steal. When the thief tried to punch at her, supervisor David Arevalos pushed her away in order to protect Baez.

The woman left without any of the items she was trying to steal.

Initially, Baez said the store's director was compassionate and caring. Then, they fired Arevalos for getting physical with the thief, and then, they fired Baez as well. The company said she was guilty of misconduct and would not receive unemployment benefits because of it.

Baez said she had worked with the company for 22 years since she was 16 years old and had been an exemplary worker for all those years.

"When you hear that, it just felt like a punch to the gut," she said. "Devastated, coming from a place of transparency and honesty, that it just, it somehow worked against me."

She said she struggled as a single mom and then decided to fight back legally.

Baez initially lost her lawsuit but won on an appeal. An administrative Employment Development Department judge found that she was not on the clock when she confronted the shoplifter and was wrongly terminated.

"The claimant was aware of the employer's customer service shoplifting policy. She was not aware she could be terminated for performing her duties, while on or off the clock, and without a warning," said Judge K.A. Duncan in his ruling.

Baez will receive a year's worth of unemployment benefits as a result of the ruling. Her attorney had strong words for Safeway and its unfair treatment of his client.

"A judge said she was fired for doing her job, and basically said the state of California stands behind her," said the attorney, "and she beat Safeway in a state proceeding."

Eisenberg said it was no different than a citizen's arrest because Baez was not clocked in to work. He also blasted the store for its actions.

"Safeway has not reached out to her," he said, "They have not offered her job back. They have not offered to pay her lost wages for a year."

He also accused the company of treating its employees worse than retail thieves.

"Safeway’s a food bank for thieves," he said. "You are better off stealing from Safeway than paying for your goods or your groceries because when you pay for your goods or your groceries, you are absorbing the cost of shoplifting."

He says he plans to file a wrongful termination lawsuit against the store and will ask for $1 million in punitive damages.

"If you're shoplifting, you get to go free, no consequences," Eisenberg continued. "This is probably the dumbest, cruelest incident I've seen in my entire practice."

Safeway did not respond to a request for a comment from KTVU.

San Mateo is a city of about 105k people 20 miles south of San Francisco.

Here's a local news report about the ruling:

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