Meta Fires Employees for Using Meal Vouchers on Household Goods

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has dismissed 24 employees from its Los Angeles office for misusing company-provided meal credits, The Guardian is reporting.

The investigation revealed that staff members were utilizing their meal allowances, intended for purchasing food, to buy non-food items like household goods, a violation of company policy.

The credits, which range from $20 to $25 per meal, were being used to purchase personal items, including toothpaste, laundry detergent, and even wine glasses.

The breach was part of a larger internal probe, which found that some employees were also sending food home on days when they weren’t working from the office. One employee, earning a $400,000 annual salary, admitted to using the credits to purchase groceries like toothpaste and tea when they didn’t need to eat in the office.

The individual explained the reasoning behind the purchases on the anonymous platform Blind, stating that they felt it would be a waste not to use the credits on days they were eating elsewhere. The worker was subsequently terminated following the investigation.

While the crackdown led to the dismissal of these 24 staff members, others who had only occasionally broken the rules were given warnings and allowed to remain in their positions.

Meta typically provides its employees with free meals at larger offices such as its Silicon Valley headquarters. However, at smaller locations, including the LA office, employees receive daily credits for food delivery services like UberEats and Grubhub, with an allowance of $20 for breakfast and $25 each for lunch and dinner.

The company is currently undergoing additional organizational shifts, including layoffs and relocations in divisions such as WhatsApp, Instagram, and its augmented reality unit, Reality Labs.

These changes come after Meta’s significant job cuts in 2022 and 2023, which saw 21,000 employees laid off. As of June 2023, the company reported a workforce of approximately 70,799 employees.