Anthony
Rossville,#2Consumer Comment
Sat, November 29, 2008
I am saddened to read a story like this. What happened to your husband is only further evidence that Wal-Mart cares only about profit, and little else. Apparently, they train their management well in pursuit of that goal. I spend not one dime in their stores and that has been the case for quite sometime now, for other personal reasons. Unfortunately under Georgia law, there is no provision within it to prevent on any level what happened to your husband. Wal-Mart was within their rights to fire your husband for almost any reason. "At-will" employment laws are such that in the absence of a written contract of employment for a defined duration, an employer can terminate an employee for good cause, bad cause, or no cause at all, so long as it is not an illegal cause. Georgia has held it legal in state courts that workers can even be fired for instances of refusing to commit a crime, reporting crimes committed by other employees, filing a workers' compensation claim, filing for bankruptcy, or for testifying against the employer in a court proceeding. Illegal causes are limited to those issues of discrimination on the basis of race, sex, age, religion, national origin and disability. Even those causes are hard to prove at times to obtain sanctions against an employer. The best thing that can come from this, is to hope that those who are interested in understanding the attitudes of those who represent Wal-Mart at the store management level, will decide to seek employment elsewhere and forgo a similar experience as an employee, and that these same people and others who do care about issues like this, will decide to spend their shopping dollars where they are more appreciated. God Bless your husband, and God Bless you for taking the time to get the word out.