Wal-Mart Seeks to Deny Workers’ Disability Benefits—Again

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/07/08/wal-mart-seeks-to-deny-workers-disability-benefitsagain/

by James Parks, Jul 8, 2008

Last week, Wal-Mart trotted out a new corporate logo in the hopes of turning around its public image as a company that cares more about the bottom line than its employees and customers. But don’t tell that to Jimmy Singleton and Deborah Shank.

Back in November, the retail giant, which made nearly $13 billion in profits last year, sued Shank, a former employee who suffered permanent brain damage in a car accident, to get back $470,000 it spent on her medical bills. After a public uproar, Wal-Mart backed off. Now, Wal-Mart is at it again, with a different target.

David Nassar reports on The Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-nassar/wal-mart-kicks-an-injured_b_110291.html) that Wal-Mart is trying to prevent a police officer—who was never a Wal-Mart employee—from receiving disability payments for injuries he suffered while trying to protect the public.

Here’s the story, according to Nassar and the Northwest Arkansas’ Morning News. Singleton, a former Pine Bluff, Ark., police officer, was patting down a suspect in 2003 when he was shot in the ankle and knocked unconscious from a blow to the head. He suffered neurological damage, and today is overly sensitive to light and suffers frequent migraines. He still has a bullet lodged in his ankle, making it difficult to walk or stand up for long periods of time.

Singleton is now retired but has spent the past five years waging a nasty court battle to receive disability benefits, which state workers’ compensation officials amazingly say he is not entitled to receive.

A state appeals court has overruled the workers’ comp commission, twice finding the commission wrongly excluded some evidence from consideration. Now the city of Pine Bluff has appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court.

FULL story at link.

[Breeze54]

1. WHY am I not surprised?!

Assholes!! :grr:

Thanks for alerting us to this BS, Omaha Steve!!

K&R

:hi:

[MasonJar]

2. Walmart might be a casualty of its own greed some day soon, if enough

employees will bring suit.

[Breeze54]

3. Over 1 million women have filed a class action lawsuit against them already...

for discrimination and that's just one among many. ;)

www.wakeupwalmart.org

[liberal N proud]

4. Currently know exactly how this feels

I can't explain further for legal reasons but I know first hand what they are doing, trust me.

[Omaha Steve]

5. Kick

So the day crowd sees this.

[PA Democrat]

6. Both Wal-Mart and Tyson filed "friend of the court" briefs.

The guy didn't work for either company, wasn't on the property of either company, but both sets of corporate pigs have to meddle in this poor guy's lawsuit to try to prevent a legal precedent from being set that might force them to compensate their own workers when injured.

Corporate greed is an ugly hideous thing, especially when it impacts little people deserving of help. I hope this gets as much coverage as the story about the Shanks. Wal-Mart executives are thieves. They steal pay and benefits from their own employees and now they wants to go after a cop injured in the line of duty? Have they NO shame at all?