PIZZA TIME: Whistleblower Gets Fired
January 6, 2009 by Sean Kelly
Filed under Business
Whistleblower Dan Baxter didn’t get heat, but he did get fired.
According to a report by King 5’s Jesse Jones, the Pizza Time employee who contacted the press about the owners forcing 
employees to work without heat has been terminated. According to franchise owner and husband-of-the-boss Luke Benjamin, the firing was “amicable” (meaning that the Benjamins won’t contest Baxter’s unemployment compensation application).
While whistleblower stories make for great drama, don’t look for Russell Crowe to portray Dan Baxter any time soon. The employee, who was already suspended, not only initiated and starred in Jones’ initial story, he actively fanned the flames of outrage that ensued with aggressive posting of Internet comments against his employers. Once the story rose to fever pitch, Baxter seemingly tried to cash in on his 15 minutes of fame. In one comment left on the first Pizza Time post on FranchisePick.Com, Baxter wrote:
daniel baxter
Jan 3, 2009 at 5:33 pm
I am the manager of that store and the one seen on king 5 (go to king5.com) and was fired over this any donations (money, job offers, legal aid) would be appreciated contact king 5 or email me [deleted] I am not the only worker who has been suspended or fired over this.
Baxter was an active participant in the 300+ comment discussion that followed the original King 5 story. Many of the comments called for a boycott and picketing of the much-maligned pizza shop. In one comment, Dan Baxter posted his email address as P-O-P-E@[withheld].net. Coincidentally, an active commenter named POPE posted a humorously awkward extortion attempt on the King 5 site:
At this point our advice to the owners is to offer them employees especially Dan and John a settlement and don’t think that it will work unless it is in the 10s of thousands. Unlawful punishment of an employee for complaining about a safety hazard(cold) is against the law. Check the regulations. Harassing workplace is a class action lawsuit. On top of all that employee/employer confidentiallity was violated by the owner when she aired dirty laundry publicly that is now widespread on the internet. Lawsuit again and john has a liable/defamation of character suit because he has no criminal record. Not to mention a lawsuit for keeping employee tips. If you want to save your business settle this quickly before it ends up in the courts. Dan is an employee of 10 years. That is a career employee. Has anyone ever seen a lawsuit where an employer is ordered to pay an employee for the rest of his life. What a can of worms.
With phrases like “Harassing workplace is a class action lawsuit” and “a liable/defamation of character suit,” one would hope that POPE’s not planning a career impersonating attorneys.
With lines like “…offer them employees especially Dan and John a settlement and don’t think that it will work unless it is in the 10s of thousands” and “If you want to save your business settle this quickly…” a career as an extortionist is probably out, too.
Though prison does have one advantage: Free heat.
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Also read: Franchise Pick: Franchisee From Hell! Awards: Luke Benjamin, Pizza Time, Franchise Pick: Can the Lacey Pizza Time be Saved from Itself? What do you Think?, BizLevity: Dirty Franchising, The Sequel, They Had The (Pizza) Time Of Their Lives , Leadership Turn: Leaders From Hell Win Award, The Seattle Traveller: Lacey Pizza Time Feels the Heat but Employees Don’t, Small Business Boomers: Boss From Hell? Or Frustrated, Cost-Conscious Employer?, BrandCurve: Pizza Time, or Hypothermia Time?
WHAT DO YOU THINK? SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.
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Perhaps this is just a classic case of the old bromide: “If you can’t stand the heat, skip out of the English class…”
Aren’t the franchisors just delighted that all of the problems of being an employer are enjoyed by the franchisees, and that they, the franchisor, are free to remain in the background and have no liability for any of this mess.
In fact, under the franchise contract they could probably just go in there and take that business away from the franchisees, if they were so inclined and weren’t afraid of a countersuit for unlawful termination.
Has this episode damaged the brand name and ruined the franchisee’s business?
I wouldn’t call Baxter a bonified whistleblower. He appears to be more like a bad employee who wanted to use the media to put pressure on his employer because he was mad at his employer.
He didn’t have to work in a cold environment. He could have quit if he didn’t like the punishment. There is probably no law in the state that requires employers to keep their workpaces at any certain temperature for the comfort of their employees.
Much ado about nothing! I think Workers Comp that his employer has paid for is generous and that this matter should be dropped in the interest of fairness to the franchisees, who, no doubt, are having a hard enough time trying to survive.
Yes, Carol, I think this is one of those movies where there is no hero, no heroine and no likeable characters. The franchisor is nowhere to be found. The only number I could find is disconnected and emails weren’t returned.
The employee was already suspended and had ulterior motives for attacking his boss. Even the media outlet was a bit suspect in allowing manipulation of the story and the 300+ comments.
The untold story is that the former franchisee of the Lacey Pizza Time hired a delivery driver who proceeded to kill a father of four when delivering pizzas drunk. Why would Dan Butler – who had a DUI – even be working at this shop?
There’s a lawsuit over the wrongful death suit… which may be why the franchisor is hiding and the former franchisee sold quickly to the Benjamins.
An all around ugly story. Maybe this place is just cursed. Wonder if the pizza’s any good?
Wow! Sean! The plot thickens! Much more to this than meets the eye. You say the franchisor won’t answer the phone! Not good news!
I know the Pizza franchisors, when there is so much competition and such saturation of markets, do want their franchisees to provide delivery service but whether or not they mandate it, I’m not sure. I would imagine that if they mandate it as part of the contract, they would have to insert instructions in the manuals about the necessity of hiring good and safe drivers and of making backround checks to protect themselves from any vicarious liability in the event of a fatal accident in which a franchisee employee was found liable in the course of performing his job.
I think a Quiznos operator told me that “delivery service” was voluntary foir the franchisees and I’m sure that Quiznos corporate legal has checked the law to make sure that they won’t have any liability for accidents when employees of franchisees are found to be negligent and guilty of vehicular homicide.
Pizza can only be so good and just one night a week or every other week, from my point of view. I like it DeLuxe then —with everything piled on it!
Delivery is their core business. There have been a lot of lawsuits regarding unsafe pizza delivery… that’s one of the reasons Domino’s discontinued their 30 minute delivery guarantee… since they were accused of pushing drivers to disregard speed limits, etc.
You’d think every pizza delivery franchisor would have safety procedures in place and documented – even if just to cover the franchisor’s legal butt. However, in this case, they probably didn’t.
But how could a delivery driver be allowed to drive drunk? I mean, this chick was so drunk someone called 9-1-1 before the accident to report her erratic driving. I mean, they have to return to pick up pies… no one noticed she was smashed?
Gross negligence on the part of anyone in the Pizza Shop who saw that she was drunk and still permitted her to drive. She was a kid and the drinking alone, under age, was a violation of the law –maybe they drank on the job –who knows?
It would sure seem like a new franchisee would be very careful not to allow anyone with a DUI to drive the company car???
Not knowing the circumstances, how can we know? Was Baxter working as Manager at this time and was she a driver out of this same Pizza shop?
Of course, wrongful death lawsuit awards are capped under most State Laws, aren’t they!
…wrongful death lawsuit awards are capped under most State Laws, aren’t they…?
Yes, they certainly are! And that’s what makes my new franchise opportunity, DUI Pizza, so attractive!
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I would like to think that if you’re going to build a conspiracy out of the ashes of this debacle, you’d come to the table with more than tenuous links between the acusee and those quotes, but eh, you’re not a professional journalist. Can’t expect anything better.
…but eh, you’re not a professional journalist. Can’t expect anything better….
I’m a blogger, not a journalist. I try to spark intelligent discussion and meaningful comments.
Sometimes, as in your case, Daniel, I fail dismally.
Remember the Alamo! (Or was that Davy Crockett?)