Pizza Hut is using social media to apologize to one of its former managers.

Tony Rohr, the manager of an Elkhart, Indiana Pizza Hut, did not follow Yum! Brands, the owner of Pizza Hut, protocol and was allegedly forced to quit. Rohr, who has been a manager there for more than 10 years, says that Yum! Brands demanded that his store be open on Thanksgiving Day.

"I said, 'Why can't we be the company that stands up and says we care about our employees, and they can have the day off?'" Rohr told WSBT.

The manager was then asked to sign a letter of resignation. Instead, Rohr wrote a letter of his own.

"I am not quitting. I do not resign, however I accept that the refusal to comply with this greedy, immoral request means the end of my tenure with this company," Rohr's letter said. "I hope you realize that it's the people at the bottom of the totem pole that make your life possible."

The story went national, and on Wednesday Pizza Hut released a social media statement.

"This was clearly an unfortunate situation, and we are very upset by what has transpired in Elkhart, Indiana. While the choice as to whether a restaurant should be open or closed on a holiday is handled at the local level by our independent franchisees, we feel strongly that this situation could have been avoided. We respect an employee's decision not to work on a holiday if they so choose, which is why the vast majority of Pizza Huts in America are closed on Thanksgiving...We will monitor and evaluate this situation closely and regret what has occurred," Pizza Hut said via Facebook.

Later that day, Pizza Hut "recommended" that Rohr be reinstated.

"... we feel strongly that the situation involving our independent franchisee and the local store manager could and should have been avoided. We fully respect an employee's right to not work on a holiday, which is why the vast majority of Pizza Huts in America are closed on Thanksgiving. As a result, we strongly recommended that the local franchisee reinstate the store manager and they have agreed. We look forward to them welcoming Tony back to the team," Pizza Hut said in another Facebook post.

It has not yet been established if Rohr is back as manager.

Rohr said he decided to do what he did for his employees.

"Thanksgiving and Christmas are the only two days that they're closed in the whole year, and they're the only two days that those people are guaranteed to have off and spend it with their families," Rohr said.

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