Fast-food chicken franchise Popeyes has moved to contain fallout from a Houston TV news report about the firing of a pregnant employee that went viral online and was widely picked up by news outlets.

Houston's KHOU reported April 22 that a pregnant manager at a Channelview, Tex., Popeyes franchise was fired after the store was robbed.

The manager, Marissa Holcomb, said she was fired because she refused to pay back the money from the robbery, but the franchiser said she broke policy by leaving too much money in the eatery's cash register.

The Atlanta-based Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, which relies on Coltrin & Associates for outside PR counsel, initially referred reporters to the franchisee but later issued a statement to say that it became aware of the KHOU report and spoke to the local franchise owner, who took immediate action to apologize and rectify the situation. A second statement released hours later named the franchisee, Z&H Foods, and expressed hope that "this employee will rejoin the team soon."

Todd Burke is VP of communications and PR for Popeyes.

"We deeply regret the distress this situation has caused," CEO Cheryl Bachelder said in the first statement. The second release widened the apology: " We are committed to continuing to work with Ms. Holcomb, and we apologize to her, our employees, the public and other franchise operators of the Popeyes system. We have let them down and are committed to do better.”

KZHOU reports that Holcomb has been offered her job back with $2,000 in back pay.