A video footage shows the West Virginia Pizza Hut district manager urinating in the restaurant's kitchen sink. Officials at the health department shut down the outlet Tuesday, after the incident.
The video dated Jan. 29, was uploaded on YouTube and showed the manager taking a leak in the metal sink of the kitchen of the Pizza Hut outlet in Kermit, some 85 miles southwest of Charleston, reports the Associated Press.
The health department officials put a seal on the restaurant "until further notice." Brett Vance of the Mingo County Health Department told the Daily News that they have not decided when the restaurant will be reopened. He also said sanitation would be an important criteria for the restaurant to open up for business again.
According to the Pizza Hut management, the employee, whose name was not released, urinated in the kitchen sink after working hours.
The company said the incident was an embarrassment to them. "Pizza Hut has zero tolerance for violations of our operating standards, and the local owner of the restaurant took immediate action and terminated the employee involved," the company said in a statement, reports USA Today. "While the isolated incident occurred during non-business hours and did not involve any food tampering, we follow strict safety and handling procedures and the restaurant has since been closed. We apologize to our customers of Kermit, West Virginia and those in our system who have been let down by this situation."
There have been previous instances where restaurant employees were caught in such gross acts. Last year, a Taco Bell employee was fired for licking a stack of taco shells. In another incident at the Wendy's an employee filled his mouth with ice-cream directly from the machine.