Three years ago, Ollie’s wife (Patricia Wells) began working full time at the distribution center to help the family make ends meet. After working there for a little over a year, she was injured at work when she attempted to get clothes out of a jam on a conveyer belt. She was dragged on the conveyer belt and repeatedly slammed into the wall and was eventually thrown off the belt. She was told by a manager that the incident could have been prevented if she had followed what is known as the “Lock out/Tag out” procedure. However, Patricia says she was never trained on this procedure because she was told implementing this procedure could cause a “loss of production.”
Patricia was taken to a Wal-Mart clinic and given a bag of ice and sat out the rest of her shift. After complaining for a week about pain in her shoulder and back, she was told by the head of Loss Prevention that it was company policy to put you on light duty for a week then send you to a doctor. It was ten days before she was allowed to go to the doctor on her day off.
After visiting the doctor, Patricia has spent the last six months fighting for worker’s compensation only to have Wal-Mart deny her claim. She was told by the doctor her injuries may never heal completely. Patricia’s husband Ollie called the Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA) to file a compliant, and Wal-Mart was fined $4,550 for 6 serious violations. As a result, he has been harassed by management. When he reported these complaints to the corporate office in Bentonville, headquarters told him until his wife gets rid of their attorney Wal-Mart will not communicate with him.
Click here to view the OSHA report verifying Patricia’s claim.
More Wal-Mart Worker Stories:
A. G. White
Bettie Madsen
Cindy Starns
Cynthia Murray
Dana Razaie
Diane Muthig
Five Workers From New York
Greg Pierce
Josh Smith
Kristen Bonardi Rapp
Lance Hindman
Mona Curtis
Ollie & Patricia Wells
Rosetta Brown
