Papa Johns boss sacks teen who asked for free pizza on overtime shift

In a text conversation, the owner of a branch in Caerphilly, Wales, refused to let young employee Lawson Callaghan have free food. The boss told the 17-year-old to “stop looking for handouts” before firing him, bragging about how much he is “worth” and calling the young man a “loser”. 

Papa John’s UK said they are currently investigating the incident which appears to have occurred on Friday night, September 2, and said they could not comment further until the investigation is complete, reports Wales Online.

The owner of the Papa John’s involved has also been contacted several times by Wales Online,  at the time of publication, has not provided a comment. The Express Online has also made efforts to contact him.

Lawson said he had started the job about a month ago and was on the minimum wage rate for 16 to 17-year-olds (£4.81).

He texted the owner at around 10pm to ask if he could have a medium margherita for free, as he was “starving” and had expected to finish work at 9pm.

Lawson said that, while employees were not given free food on shift, they were allowed to have 50% off food.

He said he had asked for a free meal as a one-off as he had no money and had not had a payday yet.

But the owner replied that he was “confused” by the request, and asked why he should pay for the teenager’s food, which would have cost £8 with the employee discount.

After Lawson pointed out he was on a low wage and had no transport cover, the owner wrote: “I was paid £3 an hour when I started at 16…