IWA For Sunday 033008

First time ever, an entire Corporation

Hey folks,

It’s SUNDAY Time for the IWA. Yes, you read that correctly. For the first time ever, I am awarding an entire Corporation the Idiot of the Week. That Corporation? Wal-Mart

OK, I’ll be honest here. I actually worked for Wal-Mart in one of their distribution centers for about eight months. On paper, it sounds like a GREAT job. GREAT pay, good benefits {If you can afford the chunk they take out of your pay,} and a GREAT future. Once there, I found the complete opposite.

The pay is good, if you get your hours. But if it’s slow, they send you home. I had to drive 45 minutes to get to work, then on many occasions, once I got there, I was told sorry, go ahead and go home. One pay period I remember getting like 44 hours for two weeks. Then you have the completely unreasonable quotas. If you did not meet them, you got wrote up. If you did not meet them because you were in the office getting wrote up for ANYTHING else they write you up for, oh yeah, I’m sorry, they call it coaching, you got wrote up for getting wrote up. One time I asked how to handle a situation that gave me more work to do, they told me, I did it, THEY were wrong, I got wrote up. {Laughing} True story.

Then you have security like and an army walking around to make sure you are working. They see something they do not like, right, wrong, or indifferent, you get wrote up for that as well. They tried very hard to brainwash me into thinking I was part of the Wal-Mart Family. We all had to do this little cheer at the start of the shift. We all had to stretch together because they care. {Smile} We all had to speak nice about Wal-Mart. ETC. Sorry, I could only last eight months in what the employees there called “The Pit.”

So I know first hand how Wal-Mart treats it’s employees, but THIS? According to AOL News - Wal-Mart Sues Disabled Ex-Employee CNN Posted: 2008-03-29 09:54:15

JACKSON, Missouri (March 29) - Debbie Shank breaks down in tears every time she's told that her 18-year-old son, Jeremy, was killed in Iraq. The 52-year-old mother of three attended her son's funeral, but she continues to ask how he's doing. When her family reminds her that he's dead, she weeps as if hearing the news for the first time.

Shank suffered severe brain damage after a traffic accident nearly eight years ago that robbed her of much of her short-term memory and left her in a wheelchair and living in a nursing home.

It was the beginning of a series of battles -- both personal and legal -- that loomed for Shank and her family. One of their biggest was with Wal-Mart's health plan.

Eight years ago, Shank was stocking shelves for the retail giant and signed up for Wal-Mart's health and benefits plan.

Two years after the accident, Shank and her husband, Jim, were awarded about $1 million in a lawsuit against the trucking company involved in the crash. After legal fees were paid, $417,000 was placed in a trust to pay for Debbie Shank's long-term care.

Wal-Mart had paid out about $470,000 for Shank's medical expenses and later sued for the same amount. However, the court ruled it can only recoup what is left in the family's trust.

The Shanks didn't notice in the fine print of Wal-Mart's health plan policy that the company has the right to recoup medical expenses if an employee collects damages in a lawsuit.

ALWAYS read the fine print. ALWAYS.

The family's attorney, Maurice Graham, said he informed Wal-Mart about the settlement and believed the Shanks would be allowed to keep the money.

“We assumed after three years, they [Wal-Mart] had made a decision to let Debbie Shank use this money for what it was intended to,” Graham said.

The Shanks lost their suit to Wal-Mart. Last summer, the couple appealed the ruling -- but also lost it. One week later, their son was killed in Iraq.

“They are quite within their rights. But I just wonder if they need it that bad,” Jim Shank said.

No. Folks, I hate to break this to your. But your beloved “family oriented” Wal-Mart, is nothing more than a greedy, money hungry Corporation that cares nothing more than for their bottom line. Money. Their CEOs and upper management could afford anything they want to. But they could not care less about the little people. As long as you keep giving them your money that is. Why do you think at the time I left the Distribution Center there was like a 68 percent turnover rate?

In 2007, the retail giant reported net sales in the third quarter of $90 billion.

$90 BILLION and they decide to take ALL the money this family has.

Legal or not, CNN asked Wal-Mart why the company pursued the money.

Wal-Mart spokesman John Simley, who called Debbie Shank's case “unbelievably sad,” replied in a statement: “Wal-Mart's plan is bound by very specific rules. ... We wish it could be more flexible in Mrs. Shank's case since her circumstances are clearly extraordinary, but this is done out of fairness to all associates who contribute to, and benefit from, the plan.”

That is just complete Bull. That is not even bunk. That is just outright BULL. John Simley could afford to give the money back to this family himself if he so chose. I bet you he does not care that much.

Jim Shank said he believes Wal-Mart should make an exception.

“My idea of a win-win is -- you keep the paperwork that says you won and let us keep the money so I can take care of my wife,” he said.

They do not care.

The family's situation is so dire that last year Jim Shank divorced Debbie, so she could receive more money from Medicaid.

Jim Shank, 54, is recovering from prostate cancer, works two jobs and struggles to pay the bills. He's afraid he won't be able to send their youngest son to college and pay for his and Debbie's care.

“Who needs the money more? A disabled lady in a wheelchair with no future, whatsoever, or does Wal-Mart need $90 billion, plus $200,000?” he asked.

They don’t need it, but they will take it.

The family's attorney agrees.

“The recovery that Debbie Shank made was recovery for future lost earnings, for her pain and suffering,” Graham said.

“She'll never be able to work again. Never have a relationship with her husband or children again. The damage she recovered was for much more than just medical expenses.”

Graham said he believes Wal-Mart should be entitled to only about $100,000. Right now, about $277,000 remains in the trust -- far short of the $470,000 Wal-Mart wants back.

Refusing to give up the fight, the Shanks appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. But just last week, the high court said it would not hear the case.

That’s because if Wal-Mart is good at anything other than buying and selling cheap Chinese made products, it is covering themselves. Their case is legally sound. The Supreme Court would have to actually violate the law to overturn the Wal-Mart “victory.” Of course they will not do this.

Graham said the Shanks have exhausted all their resources and there's nothing more they can do but go on with their lives.

Jim Shank said he's disappointed with the Supreme Court's decision not to hear the case -- not for the sake of his family -- but for those who might face similar circumstances.

For now, he said the family will figure out a way to get by and “do the best we can for Debbie.”

‘Luckily, she's oblivious to everything,” he said. “We don't tell her what's going on because it will just upset her.”

And Wal-Mart will go on making Billions of dollars without a second thought of this meaningless, in their eyes, disabled person. They won their money back. Screw her. They probably think she would be better off dead anyway. Right?

This is “your Wal-Mart” folks. THIS is “YOUR” Wal-Mart. I remember when Wal-Mart first came to town. They put all the Mom and Pop businesses out of business. Bigger competitors? Well, they pretty much closed down too. Some say they will not shop at Wal-Mart. But good luck. They have and continue to do everything they can to make sure that, THAT is not an option.

Congratulations Wal-Mart. For screwing this family and showing us who you really are at the same time, you ARE the Idiot of the Week. You are even in the running for Idiot of the Year. I truly hope you lose some sales for this one. At the very least, oh, I don’t know, lets say $500,000 this year, just to make up for the money your STOLE from this family. Talk about taking candy from a baby.
Peter

Sources:
AOL News - Wal-Mart Sues Disabled Ex-Employee