The city of Somerville, Massachusetts, distributes food from the Federal Surplus Food Program to senior citizen centers, and gives whatever is left to soup kitchens and homeless shelters. After city officials learned that extra food was missing, it hired a private investigator who found that four employees of the Somerville Public Works Department put 22 pounds of butter into a car. The city considered this to be stealing and fired the two main culprits. Another retired, and the fourth was suspended for five days.

The Somerville Municipal Employee's Union filed a grievance against the city, saying department supervisors had taken food in the past and that the city did not have a written policy saying the practice was unacceptable. An arbiter found in favor of the two fired workers, and ordered the city to rehire them and pay them back wages, about $25,000 each.

Somerville's mayor, Michael Capuano, sent a letter to city workers clarifying the city's policy. He wrote, "Simply put—if you steal, you will be fired. I apologize to you for having to state such an obvious policy to all employees... I trust you, but an arbiter has ruled that the law says I must take this action if the City is going to take action against the very few thieves among us. Thank you for your understanding."

†