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Hundreds of Walmart Employees Say They've Been Punished For Taking Sick Days (vice.com)

Posted by msmash on from the ugly-side dept.

A new report from the workers advocacy group A Better Balance alleges that Walmart consistently punishes employees for taking sick days, even if they have proper documentation from doctors. From a report: A Better Balance interviewed and surveyed more than 1,000 Walmart workers about the company's absence control program -- which awards disciplinary "points" for absences regardless of reason -- and found the retail giant to be in violation of multiple laws. "Giving a worker a disciplinary 'point' for being absent due to a disability or for taking care of themselves or a loved one with a serious medical condition is not only unfair," the report reads, "in many instances, it runs afoul of federal, state, and local laws." Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove told the Times that the allegations are false, and that the company "understand[s] that associates may have to miss work on occasion," and that they "have processes in place to assist them." The report's worker testimonials say differently. "I came down with a stomach flu and I had to call in due to vomiting and high fever and got a point cause of being sick," recalls an Illinois employee named Veronica. "I hate the fact we got to worry about getting fired cause we caught the flu."

3 of 255 comments (clear)

  1. Re:having worked there its all true by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    they will point you no matter the reason then if they dont like you they will try to add on points for no reason i rember in my entire stay there i missed 1 day and they tried to say i had 6 points. they also play favrets to people who kiss there ass vs those that do not. just me if that company can brake a labor law they do.

    Thank goodness they don't have any pesky screening restrictions around spelling and grammar...

  2. Re:employees or associates? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Calling them peasants turned out to be bad for optics, so they're still workshopping titles to see what will make the wage slaves feel empowered.

  3. Re:Common Problem it seems by GNious · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, this is what you Americans get when you support barely restrained capitalism.
    You should embrace a little more socialism.

    Socialism would get in the way of poor Americans becoming rich.