Canadian man claims company fired him for complaining about $6 barbecue sauce holiday gift

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Did this guy get canned over sauce?

Hussein Mehaidli, 27, of Toronto, Canada, claims he was fired after complaining about his company’s Christmas gift – a $6 bottle of barbecue sauce – on Twitter.

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Mehaidli, who has worked for construction material wholesaler Fastenal for six years, told CTV News that employees at his company typically receive goodie baskets. “You’d get cookies, M&Ms, beef jerky — a box filled with junk food. We always really appreciated that,” Mehaidli said.

However, this year, the man said he received an inexpensive bottle of BBQ sauce and a wooden barbecue scraper as a present. During winter. In Canada.

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Mehaidli said the small gift felt unfair to him.

“I work really hard. We get pushed really hard to reach our sales goals,” he said. “I felt I gave this company so much and I felt really disrespected when I was given barbecue sauce as a holiday gift.”

So the man took to his anonymous Twitter account and called out the company for their miserly ways.

“What kind of multi billion-dollar company gifts it's (sic) Canadian employees barbecue sauce as a holiday gift? Yet the USA employees stuff their face with an actual holiday gift box!” Mehaidli wrote in his since-deleted tweet, which also included a photo of the sauce, according to CTV news.

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The day after he wrote the tweet – in which he also tagged his company – Mehaidli said his manager called him in by his “Twitter name” and fired him.

Though his account was anonymous, the company was able to figure out his identity based on another picture he had posted of his work station.

Mehaidli said the official reason behind the termination was a “violation of standards of conduct policy.” But the loss of his job has come at a rough time for Mehaidli, who feels the firing was unjustified.

According to lawyer Richard Johnson who spoke to CTV, the issue of employees getting fired for publically airing grievances against their companies on social media is increasing. (iStock)

“Christmas just came by. There are bills to be paid, my visa bill. Money is an issue,” he said. “I’m a very heavy believer in God and everything happens for a reason, but I believe I was done very, very dirty.”

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According to lawyer Richard Johnson, who spoke to CTV, the issue of employees getting fired for publicly airing grievances against their companies on social media is increasing.

“We are running into this issue really frequently. People are taking to social media, talking about having a bad day, something their managers are doing, internal politics at work. And one of the big issues is if the employer is named in the posts and whether it embarrasses them and whether it diminishes them in the public eye,” he said, cautioning employees to be careful with their social media activity.

Mehaidli claims he was not given severance and was only paid for his unused vacation days.

Meanwhile, Get Sauced, the company that produces the BBQ sauce, took to Facebook to defend itself after getting heaps of backlash, with some accusing the sauce brand of being responsible for Mehaidli’s firing.

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“We want to thank everyone for being so passionate about the recent news story including Get Sauced. We just want to let everyone know that we had nothing to do with the firing of the gentleman involved and we wish the best outcome for everyone involved. We just made the delicious BBQ sauce for this great giveaway. Thank you to all of the people who have supported us in our journey as a small Canadian family-run company. We love you all!” the post read.