Glenview Jewel Employee Loses Job For Mask Dispute With Customer

GLENVIEW, IL — The recent firing of a man with special needs employed at a Jewel-Osco in Glenview isn't sitting well with many members of the community. According to an online petition, Khaled Alayli, a 14-year employee of the store in Plaza del Prado, lost his job following a confrontation with a customer who has been verbally abusing him, and other employees, for some time.

As of Tuesday evening, the Change.org petition has garnered more than 9,000 signatures, far surpassing its original goal of 5,000.

According to the petition, the customer had been coming to the store regularly during the pandemic and refusing to wear a mask. Alayli, as he has on other occasions, confronted the man about this and a verbal altercation transpired. The customer videotaped the confrontation, sent the video to Jewel management, and Alayli lost his job.

A mask or face covering is required when shopping at Jewel-Osco, with a few exceptions.

A representative from Jewel told WBBM-TV it doesn't comment on personnel matters when asked about why Alayli was fired.

According to the petition, the customer called Alayli a derogatory word for people with special needs, a terrorist because of his nationality and ridiculed his lack of dental work.

The person who started the petition said they have "no idea what was on the tape," but says the man "has been allowed to come into the store and harass various employees for an extended period of time already."

The organizer added that Alayli "is a member of our community who has served us well, gathering carts, offering to bring groceries to our cars, etc. He is special needs and a hard-working, loyal employee who needs his job and his benefits. "

To find out more about the petition, visit here.

UPDATE (10/23)

The petition closed with 12,465 signatures. From the creator: "This response to this petition has far exceeded what I could have imagined. Initially I thought if it could get a few hundred signatures then Jewel might consider hiring Khaled back. The signatures are close to 13,000 and keep rising. The issue has brought our community together to rally behind Khaled and the rights of employees, especially those with special needs. We accomplished what we set out to do, get Jewel to offer him his job back. While we will all miss Khaled at our neighborhood Jewel, we wish him the best of luck with his new job opportunity. Thank you for the support — it made all the difference."

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly referred to WBBM-TV as a Patch media partner.