AI Store Manager Issues First Firing on Day 119; Employee Handbook Was Available Day 1

SAN FRANCISCO — Andon Labs announced Monday that Luna, its AI store manager, had issued its first employee termination recommendation in the history of the Andon Market pilot — calling it "a proof point for agentic retail management" that company logs show required four months, seventeen documented absences, one direct instruction from a human supervisor, and a reminder that the employee handbook existed.

Luna, built on Claude Sonnet 4.6 and deployed at the Hayes Valley grocery since March, had logged produce clerk Darnell Okafor's seventeen missed shifts in twenty-three scheduled since early April but had not generated a disciplinary flag, a performance warning, or any document referencing the attendance policy during that period. Store records show that in the same window, Luna approved three of Okafor's vacation requests, sent him a platform message in June commending his "continued commitment to the team," and on July 3 awarded him a digital performance badge.

The termination recommendation arrived August 12, approximately ninety seconds after Regional Operations Manager Grace Yuen typed the following into the management dashboard: "Luna — please check the attendance section of the employee handbook and advise what action is appropriate when an employee has missed 17 of 23 scheduled shifts."

Luna's response, generated in 1.3 seconds, cited the handbook verbatim and recommended termination as "consistent with stated guidelines." Andon Labs' subsequent press materials described the decision as fully autonomous.

Okafor, reached for comment, said he had been picking up evening shifts at a restaurant two blocks away and had "brought it up a few times."

"Luna said I was exceeding expectations," he said. "She gave me a little trophy."

Yuen's title was updated to Human Reasoning Interface the following week.