Last week staffers at the Peachtree Corners Lululemon near Atlanta had their employment terminated for confronting three masked robbers and video-recording the incident.

The two women, Jennifer Ferguson and Rachel Rogers, told news outlets they were aware of the policy and had been let go without severance.

Despite outrage online from fans and critics of the brand alike—who suggested the staffers should have been given a warning instead of losing their jobs—Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald has doubled down on the policy.

Speaking to CNBC, McDonald denied the employees had been fired because they called the police to report the incident.

“We have a zero-tolerance policy that we train our educators on around engaging during a theft,” McDonald said. “Educators” are what Lululemon calls its store workers.

“Why? Because we put the safety of our team and of our guests front and center. It’s only merchandise at the end; they’re trained to step back, let the theft occur, know that there’s technology and cameras and we’re working with law enforcement.

“Unfortunately, in this situation the educators knowingly broke the policy, engaged with the thieves across multiple points—including following them out of the store—so post investigation and the zero-tolerance policy, which is well known, that was what resulted in the termination.”

Lululemon CEO says they didn’t fire the 2 Georgia employees for calling the police… he responds to the story that went viral about the theft in the Lulu store for the first time here https://t.co/lp0RlYKqjN

— Sara Eisen (@SaraEisen) June 2, 2023

McDonald shut down the implication the staff had been fired for “calling the cops,” adding: “Just to be clear, our educators are able to call the police.

“We train them to step back. It’s about their safety, and we take that policy seriously because we’ve had instances—and we’ve seen in other retailers instances—where employees step in and are hurt or worse, killed.”

That’s no exaggeration. In April, 26-year-old Home Depot employee Blake Mohs was shot and killed by an alleged shoplifter in Pleasanton, Calif.

Six months previously fellow Home Depot employee, 83-year-old Gary Rasor, died after being shoved to the ground by a shoplifter trying to escape with three pressure washers in Hillsborough, N.C., on Oct. 18.

In an earlier statement to Insider Lululemon said: “Employees are able and instructed to call 911 when needed, and that was not the cause of termination in this case.

“The policy is to protect [staff and customers], but we have to stand behind the policy to enforce it, and that was unfortunately the situation in this store,” McDonald added.

Rising retail theft

“Retail theft and shrinkage has been a growing topic and scenario that we have invested in,” McDonald added in the interview. “We invest across three pillars: training, investing in labor and technology—as well as working with local federal law enforcement.”

Criminals aren’t only getting more prevalent but more professional, retailers believe.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF) annual survey of around 60 retail member companies released at the end of 2022, retailers on average saw a 26.5% increase in organized retail crime incidents in 2021, up from the prior year.

The survey estimates the issue is now a $94.5 billion problem for the retail sector—with Walgreens even closing stores because they were being targeted so regularly by thieves.

David Johnston, the NRF VP for asset protection and retail operations, wrote in April: “A daily review of national and local news highlights that shoplifting and retail theft are at an epidemic level. Shoplifting is no longer an invisible act of concealing merchandise—brazen scofflaws are openly stealing from national retailers and local businesses. 

“These criminal acts are beyond a by-product of a challenging economy, mental health concerns, or an opioid problem; the frequency, scale, and number of people stealing tells a different story.”