Wal-Mart sued again for allegedly treating pregnant workers like dirt (Salon)

[inanna]

"I was forced to choose between a healthy pregnancy and my paycheck," says the woman behind the lawsuit

A former Wal-Mart employee who says that during her pregnancy she was asked to work with harsh chemicals, told she couldn’t sit down and eventually fired for taking sick days has filed a federal claim against the retail giant.

Candis Riggins says that she isn’t the only pregnant worker who was discriminated against by Wal-Mart. And despite having a policy stating it will make “reasonable accommodations” for pregnant workers, Riggins alleges that Wal-Mart made it virtually impossible for her to safely work through her pregnancy.

“I made it clear to my supervisors that I wanted to keep working and that I could do several other jobs well,” Riggins said this week in a statement. “I just needed to keep away from the chemicals, but Wal-Mart said, ‘No,’ even though I know they gave light duty to a coworker of mine when he hurt his back. Finally, I was forced to choose between a healthy pregnancy and my paycheck. No pregnant worker should have to make that decision.”

In the claim, Riggins states that the chemicals she was forced to work with while cleaning bathrooms at the store made her ill, and that bending over for hours at a time caused her severe back pain. The pain became so intolerable that she went to see a doctor, who recommended lighter duty during the rest of her pregnancy. When she went to her supervisor with this information, she was moved to mopping and sweeping the store, work she said still exacerbated her back pain and involved chemicals that made her ill.

Link: http://www.salon.com/2014/12/18/wal_mart_sued_again_for_allegedly_treating_pregnant_workers_like_dirt/

[ladjf]

1. At some point, Wal-Mart might finally realize that their greedy policies toward their

employees is hurting their "bottom line".