The owners of a Burger King are in hot water after an employee dumped fry oil down a storm drain in suburban Lantana, he will not face any fines or penalties, according to documents from Palm Beach County. The county’s Department of Environmental Resources Management told the owners of the Burger King they would not penalize the group for the dumping if they created a comprehensive plan to correct the damage and admit to the dumping.
The restaurant, came under fire after a video of an employee dumping oil down the drain on May 7 went viral. In a letter dated to the county May 22, franchise president Johannah Estep said the dumping had not been an isolated incident as previously thought. She said the dumping had been going on for about two to three weeks at the direction of the restaurant’s general manager. They estimate that about 34.4 to 51.6 gallons of oil were dumped into the storm drain during that time.
In a May interview with the Sun Sentinel, Estep said the group hired a professional clean-up crew to remove the oil and clean out the drain. She also said the general manager and a store employee were fired as a result of the dumping. In addition to the clean up, Estep said they are retraining employees at all of the group’s restaurants. In one letter submitted to the county, the franchise details which procedures changed to make sure no more dumping will occur.
Some of those changes included adding the local and state statute about illegal dumping and its consequences in the employee handbook, and a policy for what employees should do when they see someone doing something wrong.
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