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A Ford assembly worker who says he was fired after being wrongfully accused of stealing less than $8 worth of Doritos and Ritz crackers is calling on his former employer to “do what’s right” and hire him back.
Nick Nabozny — one of the latest workers to claim Ford and its food-services vendor Aramark wrongly branded him a snack thief — told The Post his firing has drained his savings, but he’s willing to let bygones be bygones.
“I have no hatred towards Ford Motor Company or the [United Auto Workers],” he said Wednesday. “I just want them to do what’s right.”
Nabozny, 38, remains unemployed nearly months after his firing and said he cashed out his 401(k), receiving about $78,000 after taxes and penalties, to support his wife and two young sons while he waits for Ford and the UAW to act.
After putting in nearly nine years with a spotless attendance record, he wishes his union bargaining representative had prevented the firing in the first place, Nabozny said.
“My union rep should have stood up and did their job,” he said. “They should have never let me go.”
Nabozny, who counted at least four others from his division who have been fired over alleged theft of snacks, said the firing came in April, after he stopped at the self-service marketplace following an overtime shift.
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“[Surveillance footage] showed me talking to someone and then when I was done speaking, it shows me grabbing a Milky Way off the shelf, looking at the ingredients, and putting it back,” he told The Post.
“I grabbed two different snacks, Doritos and Ritz Crackers with cheese. Then it shows me going to the kiosk and scanning those two items. It shows me pulling my debit card out of my pocket, tapping it and waiting for it to register.”
More than two weeks later, after returning from a family trip to Honduras, Nabozny said he was ordered to report to Ford’s labor office.
His union rep delivered the news.
“He said, ‘This is not good. The company wants to terminate you,'” Nabozny recalled.
“I said, ‘For what?’ He said, ‘For theft.'”
After reviewing the surveillance video, Nabozny said a company representative acknowledged it appeared he had attempted to pay but told him the transaction timed out after he walked away from the kiosk.
“Even though it looks like you purchased it after you left, the process timed out, so it’s considered theft,” Nabozny said he was told.
Unlike another Ford worker whose case drew national attention, Nabozny said his bank records did not show the purchase because the transaction was never completed. He maintains he had no reason to believe anything had gone wrong.
“I was not aware that the transaction did not go through until the 27th [of April],” he said.
Such a petty theft wouldn’t make sense, Nabozny added.
“I’ve spent thousands of dollars in this store. I have two little kids. I’m married. I’ve worked there for nine years,” he said. “I’m not going to jeopardize my livelihood and my ability to take care of my family over two bags of chips.”
The Nabozny firing was first reported by journalist Phoebe Wall Howard in her Substack newsletter Shifting Gears.
The Detroit Free Press recently reported that at least three Michigan Assembly workers who were fired over alleged snack thefts been reinstated since investigations cleared them.
Neither Ford nor Aramark has commented on the specific cases.
Ford told the Post it has invested in upgrading self-serve kiosks operated by Aramark.
“We are aware there have been some issues raised regarding the kiosk functionality in some limited cases, and we are working with Aramark to review these situations,” a spokesperson said.
Aramark previously said the company is “reviewing the instances in question” and remains focused on operating “with integrity and accountability.”
Former Ford electrician Kurt Kromm is taking a different tack from the workers who have come back.
He said he was fired after a kiosk appeared to show he failed to pay for a $1.95 package of Grandma’s Chocolate Chip Cookies that he bought during an overnight shift while treating low blood sugar caused by diabetes.
Kromm later found the $1.95 charge on his bank statement, convinced Ford he had paid and was reinstated with roughly $33,000 in back wages. He declined to return to the company.
Kromm recently lawyered up, instead.
