A teenage Asda worker was left in tears after claiming the supermarket giant sacked her on Christmas Eve – “without warning”. Billie-Leigh, 19, had commenced her role at the Tipton Superstore, primarily stacking shelves, in October.
But the sudden termination of employment has significantly impacted her self-esteem, and ruined her family’s Christmas, her mum Kaye, aged 42, said.
According to Kaye, Billie-Leigh was informed of her termination merely four hours into her shift but was instructed to continue working until the regular clock-off time.
Kaye, of Wednesbury, told BirminghamLive: “To lose her job on Christmas Eve, at 6pm, ruined our Christmas. She was in pieces and left feeling worthless. My daughter struggles with anxiety and mental health issues, and this has sent her spiraling.”
“She carried on working till 8pm. When it became overwhelming, she phoned her nan in floods of tears saying they had sacked her. They have no empathy and it is very Dickensian to fire a 19-year-old girl from her first job on Christmas Eve.”
Billie-Leigh said: “I’m devastated because I have been left without a job, during a period where it is impossible to get a job. I’ve got no way of getting any money at the minute. I can’t even sign on, because I am at college full-time.
“Not just the fact I have been left without a job, but that I enjoyed working there and earning my own money too. It just blew up on me on Christmas Eve. I’m angry.
“It was my first tax-earning job, I’d worked in a restaurant before but it was cash in hand. It is inhumane to fire someone on Christmas Eve and expect them to work until the end of their shift.
“I didn’t do anything wrong, I just wasn’t quick enough. I don’t want anybody else to experience this because it was horrible. It can leaving you feeling very, very low.
“For a good few weeks, I was pressured, saying I needed to be quicker, otherwise my section leader threatened me, saying if I didn’t pick my speed up, I would be getting a letter saying my contract wasn’t going to be renewed. I got a lot of pressure coming from my manager.
“I broke my back trying to get quicker, I was getting quicker and improving. Then I got called into the office on my shift and they said I wasn’t fast enough and they can’t keep everybody on, so they’re taking me off, so to speak.”
Billie-Leigh was hired as a permanent worker and during her short tenure, carried out overtime work to help the company and didn’t have a sick day, said her mum.
Kaye, who feels her daughter was “taken advantage of” by management, went and confronted them three days after the incident and handed in Billie-Leigh’s uniform.
Express.co.uk has reached out to Asda for a comment.
