http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Walgreens-to-pay-diabetic-who-needed-food-fast-5596185.php
From the article:
Walgreens has agreed to pay $180,000 to a longtime South San Francisco cashier with diabetes who was fired in 2008 for grabbing and eating a $1.39 bag of chips to fend off an attack of low blood sugar, a federal civil rights agency said Wednesday.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced the settlement of a discrimination suit it filed on behalf of Josefina Hernandez, 57, who had worked for the nation’s largest drugstore chain for almost 18 years. The payments cover lost wages and emotional distress, said EEOC attorney Cindy O’Hara.
The commission said Hernandez, whose diabetic condition was known to Walgreens, had an attack of hypoglycemia while working in September 2008. She started shaking and sweating, and took a bag of chips to stabilize her blood sugar.
Asked later why she had taken the chips without paying, she wrote a note saying, “My sugar low. Not have time.” A security officer testified later that he hadn’t understood what she meant and didn’t ask for an explanation.
Another example of “law enforcement” acting first and not asking questions ??? Is it just me.. or does common sense and extenuating circumstances no longer exists in those who are there to protect us… or … has their sense of “power” has just overwhelmed them using them ?
The really SAD part of this issue .. is that it took SIX YEARS to settle… EIGHTEEN YEARS of dedication to WALGREENS … gone in a heartbeat and IRRATIONAL CONCLUSIONS !
Filed under: General Problems
Ignorance of the law is no excuse. ( Not understanding the letter of the law is no rnowseason ). Being in the wrong place at the wrong time is unfortunate. I seem to feel that so many have merely given up at trying to address their individual treatment goals. The reasons are long and endless. Advocating for the unkempt, the un desirable, the ones who somehow aren’t worthy or some thing too far reaching and, well – God knows, there are those more needy than this pitiful person.
Any good security officer, store manager, supervisor, court judge, etc. should follow the same simple rule when it comes to dealing with people and resolving a conflict(s). You don’t judge a person so much on what they do but WHY they do what they do. Had they bothered to ask a few questions and conduct even the most superficial inquiry into her actions, they would have been able to resolve it in minutes and for pennies rather than years and thousands of dollars.
Makes me grateful I had supportive management during my 3 pregnancies (my youngest is now 19) and this was before or right at ADA. I had horrible hypoglycemia while pregnant (but only while pregnant). I had to change my diet to the 6 small meals to keep my sugar from dropping. Otherwise bad for me AND baby. I had a drawer for snacks and a spot in the fridge in the pharmacy for cold stuff. During the time I had my kids I worked for an old well known chain and then an independent. One wonders if a customer had done that if Wags would have held them for shoplifting. The dumb thing also for Wags is she DID PAY FOR IT AFTER SHE WAS FEELING BETTER, so she didn’t leave the store, so it’s not shoplifting or stealing or whatever they tried to call it or put in her ’employment record’ so she couldn’t get a job. Article didn’t mention if her employment record with them was expunged of the incident. They’re not supposed to tell potential employers why you left when contacted to verify past employment, but when you can’t seem to get a job after getting terminated, you have to wonder what they ARE telling them.
Shameful. Every patrolman knows the signs of hypoglycemia or was taught