A Burger King employee who went viral for working a full shift by herself has raised over $100,000 in donations after she was fired from her job.
A GoFundMe account raised over $108,000 for the mother-of-three who recorded an emotional TikTok video explaining why she lost her job.
Nykia, who works 2 jobs, says she was fired for taking time off to be with her three minor children.
“[Burger King] fired me because I’ve been late because of my kids,” she said through tears. “Bruh, my kids come first. And not one of y’all gon’ watch my kids. Y’all don’t pay for no babysitter, no nothing.”
Nykia was overwhelmed by instant fame. She told a reporter that she didn’t want to work as many hours because her children needed their mommy.
“I be missing out on my kids’ lives when I work so much,” she told WACH News. “I have to provide for them, but I really don’t have time to spend with them — and it hurts me a lot.”
Nykia went viral last month after a customer recorded video of her working a shift alone at a Columbia, SC franchise restaurant.
Nykia was forced to work the drive-thru window, turn burgers, and take orders by herself when a co-worker quit.
The 25-year-old mother-of-three became known as “the Burger King mom” online.
A spokesperson for Burger King told The NY Post that Nykia’s job termination was the franchise owner’s decision.
“Terminations are the decision of the franchisees who own and operate the BK restaurant. In this situation, the franchisee confirmed that the individual involved is no longer employed due to repeated attendance issues.”
In a statement to WACH News, the spokesperson said:
“At Burger King, it is our policy that all company and franchise-owned restaurants require more than one Team Member to be working per shift. We are working with the Franchisee of this location to understand what happened and take any necessary action.”
The spokesperson added, “No Team Member should ever be left to run a restaurant alone, even for a short period of time. That’s not how we operate. And we’re disappointed that our policy, which requires more than one Team Member to work per shift, wasn’t followed.”
