I'm definitely not the person who would normally leap to the defense of the bigtech employer firing somebody, but I have absolutely no sympathy for people who fiddle expenses.<p>The company doesn't provide a laundry detergent/wineglass/acne pad benefit. They provide a food benefit. If they give you uber eats or doordash vouchers and you choose to spend it on something that is not food, you are committing expenses fraud.<p>You may think to yourself "all dollars are green, what's the harm?" but it's not even close to ambiguous for me. They provide that voucher for food. If you spend it on something else, that's exactly the same as if you just stole the money.
I had mixed feelings until I read the quote “better not to waste the credit”. That attitude rubs me up the wrong way for (a) a take what you need if/when you need it type perk and (b) someone being paid 400k.<p>I wouldn’t want to employ someone who saw their sick leave as something they deliberated used up in full each year (even when they didn’t need it). It’s a similar attitude IMO.
One thing I don't understand is, who accepts these vouchers for non-food items?<p>Asking this as someone who is not familiar with this particular system. I lived in countries where I got meal vouchers, but every place that accepted them only allowed me to buy food with them, and they outright refused to sell anything that can't be eaten (if they even sold anything like that)
"Staff are given daily allowances of $20 for breakfast, $25 for lunch, and $25 for dinner"<p>Doesn't it seem quite extravagant to pay 20 USD for breakfast or lunch? Are the 70USD taxed?
Show me the person and I'll show you the crime. -Stalin<p>This was a person they wanted to let go and needed an excuse to get rid of that would save them severance and lawsuits, I'd wager.