A former Safeway security staffer says he was fired after giving deli sandwiches and fried chicken to San Francisco cops working shoplifting stings at the supermarket chain’s stores.
Oscar Santos Jr., a former loss-prevention manager, claims in a lawsuit that Safeway falsely accused him of violating company policies after another employee reported that in late 2023 he walked out of the store at Mission and 30th streets with food from the deli counter. The lawsuit was filed June 28 in San Francisco Superior Court.
Santos, 33, said he informed the company that the food was for police officers who were conducting a shoplifting operation and that the store’s management had approved it. Santos said it was customary to give cops fried chicken and deli sandwiches as a thank you, since the department did not charge the company for the sting operations.
“My old boss said, ‘We’re going to take care of them. Give them some sandwiches or something from the deli,’” Santos told The Standard. “This was something I was authorized to do.”
After his boss died, a new supervisor questioned him about the practice, then suspended him, Santos said. Santos, who managed organized retail crime investigations at Safeway stores from Fresno to the Oregon border, said the new director also told him he should never have detained shoplifting suspects with handcuffs; he contends he was exempt from that rule.
A couple of weeks later, Santos said, he received a letter informing him that he had been fired “due to violation of company policy or procedures.”
He is accusing the supermarket chain of wrongful termination and seeking $20 million in punitive damages.
“I literally do not know to this day the reason why I was let go,” Santos said. “The main discussion was the sandwiches and the use of force.”
A spokesperson for Safeway declined to comment on the allegations and lawsuit. The San Francisco Police Department did not respond to The Standard’s request for comment.
A law enforcement official who worked with Santos on over a dozen operations from 2022 to 2023 confirmed that he occasionally provided officers with food from Safeway’s deli, calling it “a nice gesture.”
“I feel bad if that’s the reason,” the official, who asked not to be named because they weren’t authorized to speak with the press, said of Santos’ firing. “He really cared and cared for what he was doing. I work with numerous loss prevention officers — no one has his energy.”
Santos, who estimates he recovered more than $1 million in merchandise over his 11 years with the company as a contractor and then an employee, said Safeway higher-ups didn’t accuse him of stealing the sandwiches when they questioned him about the practice. Instead, he was told that he was giving food away “without properly documenting it,” which he said was the store’s job — not his.
“They said, ‘How are we supposed to know you gave away a $6 sandwich versus a $10 sandwich?’ ” Santos said. “Safeway throws away about 50% of the deli food at the end of the day because it just goes bad.”
Attorney Neil Eisenberg said Santos is one of several of his clients who were fired from Safeway for “ridiculous reasons.”
“It’s no different than giving doughnuts and coffee to cops who keep your neighborhood safe. Everybody does that,” Eisenberg said. “So they used that as an excuse for Oscar because they didn’t want anybody doing a good job policing shoplifting, because shoplifting is a money-making proposition for Safeway.”
Eisenberg alleged that the grocery chain has been using a “very vague policy” against pursuing shoplifters in order to let go of high-paid and long-term employees and replace them with lower-paid workers.
Santos said it’s been tough to explain during job interviews why he was fired, adding that if he told people it was because he gave sandwiches to police, he’d get laughed at.
“I just say there were some differences of opinion: Some people left; some people were forced out. That’s my answer,” he said. “Luckily, I’m starting a new job next month.”