Tuxedo-Wearing Gas Attendant's Firing Not Wawa's First Controversial Employee Action

As the story of Michael Cuzzo of Brick and his firing by Wawa continued to reach a wider audience this week, history shows that Wawa is not immune to personnel problems.

A Google search of Wawa firings has turned up other incidents that drew criticism and even legal action. The company is facing a federal lawsuit in one; in another, it was forced to reinstate an employee who was fired. And a third created a public outcry similar to what it has faced with Cuzzo.

Wawa issued a statement Monday saying the complaint that got Cuzzo fired wasn’t a first offense. Additionally, the company says it would never fire any employee based on a single incident.

Cuzzo, who called in to both the “Dennis and Judi” and “Deminski and Doyle” shows on the radio station NJ 101.5 FM Monday, said Wawa’s claim that he had other complaints or incidents simply is not true.

“I never had anything serious,” Cuzzo said.

>> Related stories:

• Protesters Rally To Support Fired Wawa Worker From Brick
• Mike Cuzzo Interview After Wawa Firing: ‘I‘m Overwhelmed’ By Support
• UPDATE: Wawa: ‘We Understand’ Customers’ Fury Over Firing Of Beloved Gas Attendant

Cuzzo, however, is not alone in making such claims.

In one well-known case, a Wawa associate in Philadelphia was fired after he stopped a robbery by punching a would-be robber in the face in late 2013. That associate, Brandon Burwell, was fired for violating company policy in fighting off the man, according to a FoxNews Philadelphia report. Burwell’s firing led to an outcry similar to the one currently surrounding Cuzzo, and job offers and other acts of kindness in its wake.

In another case, a Wawa in Bethlehem, Pa., was forced to rehire a breastfeeding mother and pay her back wages after the U.S. Department of Labor found the store failed to meet a federal requirement to provide a private place for nursing mothers to pump breast milk. According to the June 2014 Business Management Daily report, the woman allegedly was fired while the Labor Department was investigating her complaint.

And in a third case, a federal lawsuit claiming violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act is pending against Wawa. A former general manager claims he was fired in 2011 over a minor incident, as a way to be rid of him instead of accommodating him in the wake of serious injuries suffered in a 2007 car accident, according to the Pennyslvania Record, a legal journal. Brandon Moyer of Emmaus, Pa., was fired in March 2011, according to the June 2014 article, after he did not fire an employee who gave a free cup of coffee to a friend. He had clashed with upper management as he sought time to continue to rehab the injuries suffered in the crash, which kept him out of work for 14 months.

In a statement it posted on its company website and emailed in response to customer emails about the firing of Cuzzo, Wawa customer service representative Matt Newman said:

“We understand and sympathize with the outpouring of support many of you have expressed around our former associate, Mike’s departure. As an outgoing and dedicated associate, he made many friends throughout his time at Wawa.

“But we want everyone to know that we would never make a decision about any associate based on a single isolated incident like this. Decisions like these are extremely difficult and are only made after a series of steps and discussions take place.

“As a company, we give our associates the benefit of the doubt as well as second chances. This situation was no different. But, we continue to maintain that out of respect for Mike, and any associate that separates from our company, we do not share details of employment or departures. Mike brought a unique brand of positive energy and devotion to his job, and for that we will always be grateful.”

New Jersey is an at-will employment state, meaning an employer can fire an employee at any time for any reason except an illegal one, or for no reason without incurring legal liability. Likewise, an employee is free to leave a job at any time for any or no reason with no adverse legal consequences, according to the National Council of State Legislatures.

Cuzzo was fired last Wednesday from the Wawa on Route 9 in Howell at White Street, less than an hour, he said, after a female passenger in a van took offense to him using a hibachi toy called the Wee Wee Man to clean the van’s side mirror. The plastic toy, which is not anatomically correct, is frequently used in Japanese hibachi restaurants to do everything from putting out fires on the hibachi grill to spraying sake -- a Japanese wine -- into the mouths of customers.

Cuzzo told Patch on Saturday that he had been using the toy for some time, and that his customers laughed. When his first Wee Wee Man got broken, Cuzzo said he bought another one because customers asked what had happened to the toy.

On the “Deminski and Doyle” show Monday afternoon, Cuzzo told Bill Doyle he was always careful to gauge his customers before using the toy. If there were children in the vehicle, Cuzzo said he would ask the adult driving if it was OK to use it. If the driver was someone he didn’t know, he would ask them if they had a sense of humor before he brought out the toy.

In the incident that led to his firing, Cuzzo said the driver -- whom he described as a middle-aged woman -- laughed when he used the Wee Wee Man. The passenger, another middle-aged woman -- whom he said he hadn’t seen at first -- leaned over and said, “That’s sexual harassment,” Cuzzo said. Cuzzo said the van stopped shortly after noon. Half an hour later, he was called into the office and told of the complaint by the store’s general manager, Cuzzo said.

At 1 p.m., as he clocked out to attend a training session, Cuzzo said the general manager and the area manager informed him he was being terminated.

Cuzzo said he had dozens of awards for customer service, including a hat covered with Wawa’s Value Pins -- which are issued to employees for exemplary work. He is pictured wearing his tuxedo in an internal publication for employees called the Values Book, and Cuzzo said he was permitted to wear his tuxedo once a week at other Wawas where he had worked as a fuel manager in his nearly three years with the company.

Cuzzo said it wasn’t until he was assigned to the most recent position at the Howell Wawa where he was told by the area manager and the general manager that he could no longer wear the tuxedo.

The firing sparked an outcry on social media, with fans of Cuzzo -- who is known for the tuxedo, pink breast cancer awareness socks, and delivering customer receipts on a platter -- taking to Facebook and recounting story after story of his kind acts and deeds, from origami hearts made of dollar bills to shoveling paths in the snow for them to walk through to assisting with keys locked in vehicles.

The original post, on Our Howell NJ on Facebook, has been shared more than 1,300 times and viewed more than 115,000, according to the page administrators. A Facebook group, “Bring Back Mike! No wawa until Mike is back” sprung up, and had more than 1,000 members as of Tuesday morning. A GoFundMe account was created to assist Cuzzo and his family -- he and his wife, Joan, have two teenage daughters -- as he lost his health insurance coverage when he was fired.

And Cuzzo, who has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance and a varied background including work in civil engineering and the insurance industry as well as financial services, has received multiple offers to interview for other jobs, including a widespread social media campaign by the Lester Glenn auto dealership company in Toms River seeking to find him. He has an interview with Lester Glenn later this week, according to the dealership.

Cuzzo, who joined Facebook on Sunday afternoon with the help of his daughters in response to the outpouring, said in a post to the “Bring Back Mike” group:

“I want to thank everyone who came out today to support me and wish me well. I am overwhelmed with the outpouring of support. It was wonderful to see that I was able to brighten the day for so many people just with a smile or kind word. It made my job so much more enjoyable to see people smile or laugh. Thank you all so much!”

(Photos: Mike Cuzzo and his daughter, Alexis, at Sunday’s protest. Credit Michelle Sahn. Mike Cuzzo’s Wawa hat is covered in Value pins, one of Wawa’s customer service awards. Courtesy of Mike Cuzzo)