2 Fired Kroger Workers Lose Last-Ditch Appeal In Court

MILAN (AP) - Two Kroger employees who were fired for making purchases while at work have lost their case at a federal appeals court.

Tammy Crampton and Mary Beth Savage worked at a Kroger store in Milan in southeastern Michigan. They sued the big grocer and a labor union, arguing the union should have taken the firings through an arbitration process.

Crampton and Savage say their dismissals were too severe. The appeals court says it may seem "profoundly unfair" that a union wouldn't exhaust every avenue. But it also says the United Food and Commercial Workers union had the right to decline arbitration.

The union says Kroger's purchase rule was reasonable and consistently enforced. The court's 3-0 decision was released Thursday.

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