A former Wal-Mart employee who suffered severe brain damage in a traffic accident won't have to pay back the company for the cost of her medical care, Wal-Mart told the family Tuesday.
"Occasionally, others help us step back and look at a situation in a different way. This is one of those times," Wal-Mart Executive Vice President Pat Curran said in a letter. "We have all been moved by Ms. Shank's extraordinary situation."
Eight years ago, Debbie Shank was stocking shelves for the retail giant and signed up for Wal-Mart's health and benefits plan.
After a tractor-trailer slammed into her minivan, the 52-year-old mother of three lost much of her short-term memory and was confined to a wheelchair. She now lives in a nursing home.
She also lost her 18-year-old son, Jeremy, who was killed shortly after arriving in Iraq. When Debbie Shank asks family members how her son is doing and they remind her that he's dead, she weeps as if hearing the news for the first time.
Wal-Mart's health care plan lets the retail giant recoup the cost of its expenses if an employee collects damages in a lawsuit. And Wal-Mart set out to do just that after Shank and her husband, Jim, won $1 million after suing the trucking company involved in the wreck. After legal fees, the couple received $417,000.
Wal-Mart sued the Shanks to recoup $470,000 it paid for her medical care. However, a court ruled that the company could only recoup about $275,000 -- the amount that was left in a trust fund for her care.
The Shanks appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the court declined in March to hear the case.
Wednesday, April 2
Wal-Mart Caves to Public Pressure
A threatened boycott based on the actions of Arkansas-based retail giant Wal-Mart toward a brain-damged ex-employee cause the company to take stock, CNN reports.
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walmart surprises me as the Retail Giant backs down. We all know the company is all about profit. They are a glorified sweat shop in America. They've cut out any incentive programs for their associates saving billions of dollars for the CEO's. No more 90 raises. No more merit raises and capping out at certain levels. Wonder if the home office people get their salaries capped out. Doubt it. Stores rarely recieve quartely bonuses anymore. They kill me because they know people will simply shopt there at the expense of bullying their own associates so customers can live better
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