The US company Edible Arrangements (Edible Brands) fires more than 50 employees of the Ukrainian team back in November 2022 without any warning, according to the developer Pavlo Buidenkov. He noted that the company still has not settled with its former employees.
“Imagine a morning when you wake up to the familiar sound of the air raid siren, getting ready for another day at work, and find that all access to your work environment has been revoked. Without any explanation or warning. Without any communication or exposition. Unfortunately, lots of people in my country don’t need to imagine this because it is our reality. The situation described above affected me and my colleagues from the Ukrainian office of Edible Brands (Edible Arrangements). For many months, the Ukrainian team of this company has been working during the evacuation from the occupied territories, during air raids, and moving to other countries in search of peace and safety for themselves and their families. Unfortunately, on November 17, 2022, Edible Brands abruptly stopped working with us,”.
Pavlo wrote in a LinkedIn post.
As stated by Buidenkov, the company’s CEO, Tariq Farid, promised to pay 100% compensation in exchange for corporate equipment. In response, Ukrainian Edible Brands team members sent equipment at their own expense from different parts of Ukraine and abroad. However, after six months, the Ukrainian team received only more requests for confirmation of the tasks they had completed and another audit from the Ukrainian law firm they had hired.
The team collectively appeals to Edible Brands and urges their representatives to settle their accounts with people honestly and transparently.
The company has not commented on the post yet, as well as on the AIN.Capital media inquiry. Edible Brands also denied access to its website to people from Ukraine. Meanwhile, you can freely browse it from Russia and other countries.
Why is it important
People in Ukraine are experiencing the most terrible and cruel war since WW2. Under constant shelling and bombing, they continue to work in order to feed their families, while many of Ukraine’s citizens had to change their keyboards on riffles and defend the country. For employers, Ukrainian offices now became a risk factor, and it is understandable when they decide to stop working with their loyal teams just because of that. Nothing personal, just business. But any breakup can be less painful if done right. In the corporate world, it means fair pay, transparent layoff procedures, and some empathy to the people, who worked for you for years and now experiencing hard times.
Seemingly, for Edible Brands that is not the case, because people here are treated just as a labor force and that’s it. And no Ukrainians are even allowed on the company’s website.
