Eight Plankers Lose Their Jobs For Foolish Facebook Fad

Planking has already cost one Australian man his life, but now eight employees of the Australian chain Woolworths are out of work for balancing on shopping trolleys, mincing machines and whatever else they discovered they could balance on at work.

If any Australian readers from southern NSW happen to notice a new manager and assistant manager in their local Dick Smith store (owned by Woolworths) soon, it’s likely the previous ones were shown the door for planking on 2m high shelving units. North of the Dick Smith store, three Woolies employees were also fired for getting snapped planking on trolleys and display units, and uploading the photos to Facebook.

The stupidity doesn’t end there, with two Woolworths employees who worked in the meat section getting caught planking on a mincing machine, and another in Queensland who dared plank on some milk crates also got the boot.

It’ll come as no surprise to hear that planking apparently contravenes health and safety rules, which is why all the employees were let go so quickly. But legal experts are claiming the dismissed employees might have a case against the chain, for unfair dismissal. I will agree it’s not the smartest thing to do – especially while on the job – but being fired for partaking in a silly Facebook game does sound very extreme. [Daily Telegraph]