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Hundreds of Walmart Employees Say They've Been Punished For Taking Sick Days (vice.com)
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."
There seems to be an inconsistency, on the one hand they are employees and on the other they are associates. Which is it really?
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
My son worked at WalMart, was hit by a car on way home. He was not very injured, but had 1 week of rest, then 1 week of light duty. They would not honor the dr's orders, wanted the dr to call HR. (try and get an ER dr to do that). So after the week of rest (as his points ticked away) he was fired.
>I'm sure Amazon is guilty of this with their warehouse workers, delivery drivers, etc.
Here's an older article written by someone who went in to see the environment at an Amazon fulfillment center and talked with other workers. I can't imagine it's gotten better since.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/mac-mcclelland-free-online-shipping-warehouses-labor
Some of it is just f-d right up:
""You look way too happy," an Amalgamated supervisor says to me. He has appeared next to me as I work, and in the silence of the vast warehouse, his presence catches me by surprise. His comment, even more so. .......
"Really?" I ask.
"Well," the supervisor qualifies. "Just everybody else is usually really sad or mad by the time they've been working here this long."
It's my 28th hour as an employee."
WTF America?
Well, this is what you Americans get when you support barely restrained capitalism.
There is no way an employer would get away with this in Europe and Ocenania.
I'm always astonished with how bad things are in America for the basics of life, like health care and employment. You should embrace a little more socialism.
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In counterpoint, I realize this is only another data point, and doesn't necessarily mean anything, but a few years ago in a different company, we had a guy in the department who was actually physically coughing up blood (as personally witnessed) but refused to leave his cube because (as we all knew) downsizing was on the horizon and he didn't want to be seen as a slacker.
The rest of us who were in close proximity went to management and threatened to all go home sick if *he* didn't. They finally escorted him out of the building.
And then a few weeks later we were all outsourced, but oh well...
One of the things I can say about that company is that I never coughed up blood while I was there.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.