While on medical LOA that exceeded FMLA protection I was informed that my portion was no longer available for me to return to, and that once I was cleared by my doctor to return to work I would have 30 days of unpaid leave to find another position before being terminated with no severance.
Of course it's pretty much impossible to go through the hiring process at corporate in 30 days, so i ended up being terminated.
After filing for unemployment I received a letter from the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services accusing me of fraud due to my indicating that I'd been laid off, but that Walmart had reported me as having voluntarily quit.
Fortunately I had documentation proving Walmart wrong, but I'm curious if anyone else has had this happen to them and if there might be a pattern of intentionality here on the part of Walmart to try and avoid reporting too many "quiet firings".
12 replies (most recent on top)
@3ed OMG. More stupidity. More ignorance. It’s gotta be DEI. Jeez, stay in school past 6th grade. A mind is a terrible thing to waste.
Hahahaha you people that didn't think it could happen to you, it will. These people have no loyalty and you are nothing but a number. Now the people that think they are untouchable are next and Hahahahahaha here we go again. Walmart is nothing without China.
Do not sign anything until your lawyer tells you to.
@th we know you’re full of po-p now. There’s not a lawyer in this country who would take up litigation against Walmart on behalf of an associate who didn’t follow the prescribed FMLA procedure. You might be pi---d, or hurt or mad. But you have no legal basis to do anything. Simply said, you FAFO.
Yes, I have the same problem. Even human resource sent me a letter saying that I wasn’t laid off but somehow they said I was pointed out that’s when they started this five point things, but I keep on calling in as a FMLA when I try to go back to work and call them. They said I pointed out. There’s nothing I could do. So I file a lawsuits
@mf definitely agree
@bj Yes, that’s exactly right. The key here is that the OP exceeded the FMLA without returning. Sedgwick makes sure you understand the conditions of the leave and I’m pretty sure paperwork from Sedgwick clearly spells all the important dates out. It’s fairly close to job abandonment to me, especially if Sedgwick didn’t approve additional time. Too bad this happened, but the OP could have perhaps preserved their position if they would have been smarter. You can’t just take FMLA for as long as you want. No sympathy here. A good associate works within the rules and processes. And if they just stayed on FMLA without approval, then they voluntarily left their job.
@dp - interesting... Since I'm not getting severance, what's the incentive for me to sign any paperwork? Especially paperwork that makes a false assertion that I chose to separate from Walmart?
@d1 this id from my paperwork, I confirm3d with others that also tried finding placement after being "displaced" and those that just let the time expire and their documents said the same.
On the first page of the document second paragraph:
Recitals
"Associate is separating their employment with Walmart..."
2/3 the way down on the first page:
Definitions
"2. Separation from Employment: Associate terminated their employment with Walmart on ___("Termination Date")
@d1 if you will be getting severance, that paperwork won't come to you for signing until after the termination is completed. I suspect that is the same if you get paperwork without severance.
@bj I never signed any paperwork and have an email from HR stating they were moving forward with my termination since I had not been able to secure a new role.
Nothing in that statement indicates I choose to separate.
@OP during all the layoffs, noisy and quiet, the termination packet paperwork you have to sign to receive your severance has a section that states you chose to separate from Walmart. Even if you spent the allocated time trying to find another position in the company, doing interviews and getting no offers, the paperwork will still say you chose to seperate from the company.