I work overnight, stocking. One night I tripped and fell on the hard concrete floor.
I laid there for about 10 minutes before an employee walked by and saw me.
He tried to call the team lead on that side of the store, but got no response!!!!!! He then went and looked for the team lead and never found him. We were in the middle of a remodel at the time. The employee found a remodel lead and brought him over. The remodel lead also tried calling said team lead with no response either.
We then called a team lead from the other side of the store who not only responded, but was there in minutes. He helped me to the office and we filled out the paperwork on the computer and made the call to the nurse. They had me go to the emergency room. I filled out paperwork there too! This paperwork had all my contact information. I was seen, had X-rays taken then went back to work. The team lead who helped me sent me home, took care of my paperwork, and clocked me out.
The doctor told me I’d be bruised and would have problems for a while walking. The next night, I couldn’t put any weight on my leg, my knee kept giving out, and I had a knot on the right side of my knee. I called out. My so-called coach [a salaried position at Walmart that deals with write-ups and job performance] texted me and had no clue to what happened. She said to sit in a cart and get up and down all night doing returns. I told her I couldn’t do that, I might as well walk and do my job. This was March 19th this year.
I didn’t hear from worker comp for 2 months. That’s 2 months!!!
The case worker didn’t read the report. They didn’t know what store I was at, my email, or my phone number in order to contact me. My PL [People Lead, handles HR issues] and AP [Asset Protection employee] found me one morning, on May 26th, to tell me that the case worker was calling the wrong store and gave me her number. I called left a message and still didn’t hear back. Finally, I get an email from someone else in her office, so I emailed back. I wasn’t polite.
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This case worker was rude, condescending, and lied as to why she hadn’t contacted me. We set an appointment with Care Now [Walmart’s care clinic] for the next day. I went in, and they said I needed to go to the hospital. I went home made sure my dogs were taken care of and went to the hospital. They did an ultrasound on my leg, found new clots, and admitted me. I had clots in the past due to a fall, but had been ok for the last 5 years. I will be on blood thinners the rest of my life now.
If I had gotten care and been followed up with, like the case workers are supposed to, it could have been caught.
The case worker doesn’t follow through on anything, and if I send an email she tells me she’s sending it to my store manager. I worked throughout this mess. My restrictions were never followed, I was never accommodated, and was required to even do more work than the team leads buddies. The team lead that took care of me when I first fell did watch over me and would check on me all night long. Because the other team lead still expected me to do twice the work, the good team lead put me under his direction. After 4 months, Care Now released me because I’m being followed by a vascular doctor now.
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I’m back to doing 10 hours of freight in 5 hours. I leave in pain every night or morning. I believe management needs to be trained on workers comp, quit playing favorites, and do their jobs.
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.