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She followed the thief out into a parking lot and that is a big no-no.
Imagine the million dollar lawsuit if this single mother had been shot and killed. The uproar over WalMarts total failure and disregard for an employees safety on the job would have been deafening.
Employees are shot and killed INSIDE stores everyday ( think 7-11 ) Conveinance Stores ...so what is to prevent a multi million dollar lawsuit ?
Employees ( Pharmacy ) are shot and killed too for the drugs behind the counter.
I think the point by some here is : Loss prevention personnel are trained ( supposedly ) to handle shoplifters. Maybe thats where Walmart gets its policy. A cashier might not be trained in reducing theft loss.
Rules like this usually come from past experience. I'm guessing either employees getting very injured or killed or the employee suing Walmart for not "protecting" them.
More likely, to prevent getting sued by people who are misidentified as shoplifters. Detaining somebody against their will (or attempting to do so) opens up a whole can of worms in terms of liability. You'd better be damn sure they're actually guilty or they'll have solid grounds to sue your ass off even if you acted in good faith. Even more so if you try to detain them outside the premises.
So yes, while it sounds cruel and stupid and counterproductive to fire an employee for stopping a shoplifter, a company like Walmart that has a whole lot to lose has very good reason to insist that only those who have specific training in loss prevention go about trying to physically intercede, and to take such a policy very seriously, and to enforce it with impunity.
First mistake: Working for WalMart
Second mistake: Not immediately retaining a lawyer after termination.
Third mistake: Talking to the press BEFORE you retain a lawyer
Sue them...collect a settlement...move on w/ your life.
Oh yeah,,,and get out of retail...LOL
That totally sucks. I remember when I was younger I would see people shoplift at the health food store I worked at and I was also told never approach them. I would not have done anything anyway, its not my stuff and I would never endanger my life for someone else's business. If it was my store your getting f'd up. Im not saving Walmart one computer.
You've obviously never worked in retail. Anyone that has will tell you that it's stressed over and over that you NEVER leave the store to stop a shoplifter. Ever. If she isn't smart enough to follow that rule, what others isn't she following that she just isn't getting caught at. Nope, she broke a cardinal rule of retail. The last two retail jobs I had it was written write in teh company handbook that it was a terminable offense. Why shouldn't she be fired?
Pretty much everything says "up to and including termination" you can pretty much get fired for breathing wrong. I can see this being the other way and the employee getting fired for NOT asking to see the receipt
Geez, and we wonder why stores lose so much money to shoplifters.
Shoplifting isn't just for people who want free stuff -- people steal from stores and sell the stuff on ebay. Shoplifting is their job, and it's tax-free, too!
If I ran a store, I would allow my employees to go after shoplifters, if and only if, the stealing is obvious enough to be able to testify to that under oath (like in this case, notice that no one is defending the alleged shoplifter). Think about it -- shoplifters don't sue!
My store would quickly be known in the shoplifter circles as the place NOT to steal. Go steal from Wal-Mart where they fire the employee so you can get away with it.
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