AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -

After a Detroit Fox affiliate news station caught several Jefferson North Assembly Plant workers drinking and displaying “inappropriate conduct” during their lunch break, Chrysler reviewed the evidence and ultimately fired 13 workers.

“Chrysler Group has completed its investigation of the Jefferson North employees recently suspended for inappropriate conduct during their lunch period,” Chrysler said in a statement. “It has been determined that 13 employees engaged in behavior that violated the company’s standards of conduct and these 13 employees were discharged.”

Chrysler management basically said that this decision to fire the employees should serve as an example for other workers. Within 36 hours of hearing of the incident, each employee involved was initially suspended without pay while a review was issued.

“As is evidenced by the swift action taken in this matter, it should be clear that Chrysler Group will not tolerate such behavior and will continue to evaluate its protocols to ensure that something like this does not happen again,” officials wrote.

Seeking to assure customers of the quality of its vehicles, the automaker said it has safety procedures in place designed to catch any assembly line errors.

“Our customers can be assured that the Jefferson North Assembly Plant has implemented a comprehensive quality system for all the vehicles it builds,” management continued. “This system has redundant controls that do not allow a single person’s error to result in a quality problem flowing to the customer. In fact, early warranty results indicate that the quality performance from the launch of the new Grand Cherokee may be the best launch in the history of Chrysler for vehicle reliability.

“It is unfortunate that the actions of a few people have called into question the reputation of more than 51,000 very proud, hard-working Chrysler Group employees, grateful that the American and Canadian taxpayers gave us a second chance. We take that responsibility very seriously and will work to restore the public’s faith,” the statement concluded.