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Meta (META), the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, fired over 20 employees last week for abusing the company’s food credit system to buy household items.
The Financial Times reports that about two dozen employees from Los Angeles were let go from the social media giant after they used credits allocated for food to buy items like toothpaste, laundry detergent, and wine glasses.
The staff that were fired had been abusing the system over a long period of time, while employees who violated the rules only a few times were only reprimanded.
Meta, like many tech giants, provides free food to employees at its Silicon Valley headquarters. Employees based out of other offices around the country are instead offered cash credits for services like Uber Eats (UBER) and Grubhub.
Staff are given daily credits worth $20 for breakfast and $25 for lunch and dinner each, according to the Financial Times.
The credits were meant to be used for food only and delivered at Meta offices. However, some employees have been pooling the credits together or using the money to send food home.
A former Meta employee, with a salary of $400,000, said on the anonymous messaging platform Blind that they used the credits to buy toothpaste and tea, the Financial Times reports.
“On days where I would not be eating at the office, like if my husband was cooking or if I was grabbing dinner with friends, I figured I ought not to waste the dinner credit,” the employee wrote.
Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Quartz.
Meta declined to comment on the fired employees to the Financial Times. The company did, however, send a statement about a restructuring initiative, that it said could result in layoffs.
“Today, a few teams at Meta are making changes to ensure resources are aligned with their long-term strategic goals and location strategy,” the company said. “This includes moving some teams to different locations, and moving some employees to different roles. In situations like this when a role is eliminated, we work hard to find other opportunities for impacted employees.”
The company is reportedly currently laying off staff from various teams, including WhatsApp and Instagram.
