Who is Kurt Kromm? Ford worker earning over $200,000 fired over $1.95 cookie after payment kiosk failed

A longtime Ford Motor Company employee who was accused of stealing a $1.95 Grandma's Chocolate Chip Cookie from a break room at the Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville has been reinstated after the company verified that the payment had been made. The case, first reported by auto industry reporter Phoebe Wall Howard on Shifting Gears, also reportedly prompted Ford to change its approach to handling similar incidents.

The employee, Kurt Kromm, said he was dismissed after surveillance footage allegedly suggested he had taken the cookie without paying. Ford later confirmed the payment with Aramark and offered him his job back.

Who is Kurt Kromm?

Kromm is a 60-year-old member of the United Auto Workers (UAW) who worked for 11 years as an electrician at Ford's Kentucky Truck Plant, where the company manufactures Super Duty pickup trucks.


According to Kromm, the incident occurred during an early morning shift on May 9 when his blood sugar dropped. As a diabetic, he went to the break room to buy a cookie. He said he first attempted to pay using his debit card at one Aramark payment kiosk, but the transaction appeared to fail. He then used a second kiosk to complete the purchase before eating the cookie.

Kromm said he was later called into a labour office by his supervisor and informed by a union representative that Ford had decided to terminate his employment because surveillance footage allegedly showed him "stealing a cookie."

On May 16, Ford informed him he was being dismissed for non-payment, escorted him from the facility and required him to leave his tools behind. Kromm maintained that he had paid for the cookie and later found a $1.95 debit card charge on his bank statement.

According to Shifting Gears, several coworkers said the Aramark payment kiosks were known to malfunction and that they had experienced similar payment issues.

Timeline of events

On May 20, Kromm submitted bank screenshots showing the payment.

On June 4, Ford requested notarised bank statements through the UAW.

On June 12, Kromm was informed that Ford had confirmed the payment with Aramark and planned to reinstate him.

On June 17, he was notified that he would return to work on June 22.

On June 18, a UAW representative told him he would receive five weeks of back pay.

On June 25, Kromm received two cheques totalling $28,000, which was less than the expected $33,000.

Kromm declines reinstatement

Although Ford offered him his job back, Kromm declined because he had accepted another position after Memorial Day and returned to his hometown of Kenosha, Wisconsin.

According to Kromm, UAW International also informed him that Ford would revise its policy so employees involved in suspicious payment kiosk incidents would be suspended pending an investigation instead of being immediately terminated.

Shifting Gears reported that Kromm maintained he had "absolutely paid" for the cookie and said the misunderstanding stemmed from CCTV footage showing a red-screen notification indicating a failed transaction at one payment kiosk. He said the break room had two kiosks and believed the payment had been processed through the second machine.

"I earned over $200,000 last year. Why would I steal? I spent $1,200 last year in the canteen mainly on Diet Cokes," Kromm was quoted as saying by Shifting Gears.

The transaction was ultimately verified following a review of Kromm's payment account.