I was a Walmart associate from March 2016 to Dec 2020. It was very difficult. I have Epilepsy, and I have known since I was in my teens. I think it’s been more debilitating in recent years. One of the biggest complaints is speed. I’m not fast like other people and I don’t think I’m as fast as I was 15 years ago. There is nothing I can do about that and I have explained this to management. I have asked what other roles I could do. I had one manager in the last store who acted all sympathetic, and made the paperwork to transfer to from overnight to days. I kid you not, on my last night working the overnight shift I got written up by that same manager and another one.
They where telling me that I was lying about my medical history and problems.
It’s not the first time I’ve had these issues. I even had management in the first store I worked in sign off on my write up that I would talk to my doctors to see what we can do to help my motor -functions. Yes, my management didn’t even read the action plan I wrote, but they signed off on it. What worse is that I don’t have a copy of my write-ups.
We Walmart associates aren’t even allowed to see our write-ups after all is said and done. I find that shady.
My last job was also a multi-billion dollar company and they gave anyone who got written-up a copy of it. At Walmart, because it’s all digital, how do I know that they won’t alter anything if Walmart had to go to court?
During Covid, I had to do several quarantines. One of them at the insistence of the Navy because had to quarantine before deploying. The other 2 quarantines were at Walmart’s insistence because I don’t drive. I take public transport because of my seizures, and waiting at the bus stop in 115 degrees Fahrenheit made it seem I had a fever when I got to work. The second time, I had symptoms down the check list for Covid. It wasn’t Covid but I was forced to follow procedures, and couldn’t come to work.
At some point I called my store and left messages asking when I could go back to work, but no one would call me back.
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I had no access to my schedule because when I transferred to this store from the other side of the country there was a glitch in the system. I Transferred in May of 2019 and management wouldn’t fix the problem until overnight, daytime, and field support managers all talked to eachother. I think back to fall of 2019 I had a seizure at this particular, new location for the first time. My hours were cut. I feel it was because of this incident.
The fact that I transferred to day shifts — and my last night shift with them they decided to write me up, ridicule me, and call me a liar about my health issues — makes me think that my epilepsy is most definitely the reason they cut my hours.
I contacted home office about my dismissal and they pretty much tried ignore me. It took me reaching out to the labor board for this store to call me. They left a message to call them back but wouldn’t give a reason. My husband — whose job is on par with being a paralegal in the Navy — advised me not to go because of the closed door ridicule I have dealt with in the past. I have not gotten any feedback from the labor board.
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Information posted here has been submitted directly by Walmart associates and was not created or developed by United for Respect. The opinions and statements in these stories are those of the authors.