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wrongfuly terminated from Wal-mart- any advice????

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ejko28

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Wisconsin
I was wondering if anyone could possibly offer any advice to me. I will try to explain this as best as I can and if there are any questions please ask me.
Ok, I was employed for walmart for 16 months. I worked in the pharmacy as a technician and was very good at my job. I loved it. About 4 months ago i started to date the pharmacist. It was against the moral code that he signed when he took the position to date a tech but we kept it hidden and no one really knew. It didnt affect the way we worked, he was just as hard on me as the rest of the techs, maybe even worse at times but that is besides the point. On January 3rd, he resigned without notice, he had had an awful day at work and that night around 9 p.m. he faxed a letter of resignation to our district manager, turned in his badge and discount and as far as he was concerned he had quit, he was no longer an employee of wal-mart so we thought we were ok. On January 5th I was called into the office where my store manager and district manager were and they werent saying anything to me so I said "I'm not going to deny it, I know why I am in here" to which the store manager repied "so you admit to having a relationship with the pharmacist" I said "well to some extent, he is my friend" I asked what was going to happen now and the store manager replied that I had to be terminated. I asked even though the pharmacist had quit and she replied "yes, it is fraternization, you were fraternizing" I was shocked. We knew that if they found out he would probably be the one to leave but that they would not hopefully do anything to me. Now at this same store there was an instance where a store manager was dating an employee and he or she had the opportunity to transfer and he transferred, I should have the option to be transferred out of the pharmacy and still been able to keep my job. They are now fighting my unemployment, here I am still shocked that I have been fired and being a single mother of 2 kids I now have to unemployment coming in. I just want to know if I have a leg to stand on if I decide to contact a lawyer, can they legally fire me even thought the pharmacist quit? There are plenty of people at the store that feel it was unfair that I was fired, people I didnt even associate with, they feel I should have been transferred especially when he had quit his job and was no longer employed. Any advice is appreciated and if I am wrong on this someone please just tell me to let it go and accept it and I will move on. I just really loved my job. Thanks for listening.
 


justalayman

Senior Member
First I have to comment,,,,,,,,,when has Wal Mart ever done anything because it was fair.

Now to the answer. Nothing illegal with what they did. You new the rules and you broke them knowingly. They are justified in fighting your unemployment

They had no requirement to transfer you or anything else.
 

ejko28

Junior Member
need to clarify

I need to clarify something, I didnt know it was wrong for me to date the pharmacist, I knew it was wrong for him to do it, he came on to me. In hindsight I know now it was probably wrong for me too but like I said we both thought for sure it would be him losing his job, not me.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
Well let's go a different route then. Wisconsin is an emplyment at will state. They can fire you for anything anytime as long as it is not a protrected discriminitory practice.

My understanding is that Wal Mart does not allow employees that work in the same department to "date". That would be the "fraternizing" you got fired for.

I understand this may be in the employee handbook. Since I don't work there I cannot immediately verify that.
 

ejko28

Junior Member
I wish I still had the handbook, the friends I have at walmart have been there forever and i highly doubt they have their handbook. I would like to know that. I thought I remembered something being said about the dating in the same department but on that same hand I could swear it was mentioned about transferring to another department. I appreciate your posts. Thanks.
 

Gadfly

Senior Member
Your logic escapes me. If it is wrong for him to date you how is it ok for you to date him? It's the same date.
 

xylene

Senior Member
Gadfly said:
Your logic escapes me. If it is wrong for him to date you how is it ok for you to date him? It's the same date.
Its not so hard to understand. Do you not really understand or are just saying that to simplifiy the fact that the OP has no case.

It is a violation of the specific policies for pharmacists, for a pharmancist to date subordinates.

The the policy for pharmacy techs is silent on dating, BUT the pharmacy tech knows the policy for the pharmacist.

They date.

The pharmacist should be disciplined and the pharmacy tech not. Even though she new it was wrong for the pharmacist...

Lets take another example-

NCAA regulations on drinking.

I drank with college athletes. Were is my NCAA suspension?

I wasn't an athlete so those rules didn't apply to me.

In this case, WAL-MART fired someone for breaking policy, and for making trouble, which is really all that matters.
 

ejko28

Junior Member
I forgot to mention that according to one of the other techs who was called into the office the manager told her that they had been hearing rumors about the pharmacist and I. Shouldnt they have cleared the rumors up when they found out about them and not after he quit. They knew about these rumors way before he quit. I guess I just find it funny that after he quits they clarify the rumors.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Okay, just to make my position clear:

I detest Wal-Mart. I wouldn't shop at Wal-Mart if they were giving away free money with every purchase. Everyone who knows me knows that I wouldn't set foot in the local Wal-Mart unless someone had a gun to my head. I would LOVE to tell you that you had a wrongful termination case and could sue them until ole Sam turned over in his grave.

But I can't. You were not wrongfully terminated. There's no way it can be wrong for him to date you and not wrong for you to date him. There was a rule; you broke it; you knew you were breaking it. They don't have to "clear up the rumors" - they are not a court of law and don't have to have proof positive. Your firing was legal and you don't get to sue.
 

ejko28

Junior Member
Thinking of hiring him back

I just wanted to throw this in here and see what anyone thinks. Wal-mart is now thining about hiring him back. Can they do that and if they do knowing that we had a relationship is there anything I can do? I dont think that would be fair. I am not going to sue but I just want to hear what others think other than my family and friends. thanks for listening.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
ejko28 said:
I just wanted to throw this in here and see what anyone thinks. Wal-mart is now thining about hiring him back. Can they do that and if they do knowing that we had a relationship is there anything I can do? I dont think that would be fair. I am not going to sue but I just want to hear what others think other than my family and friends. thanks for listening.
They could surely hire him back if the wish.

And there is still nothing you can do. No lawsuits, no grievances, no nothing, even if you wanted to even if they know now, or learn about it later. They are a private company and until they break the law, they are safe.
 
I doubt very seriously that they would believe you as a tech. Pharmacists are in high demand he avoided the incident by quiting before they found out and could confront him. It was you that took the blame. As a pharmacist he will probably be able to find a job anywhere a pharmacist is needed the benefits of being a pharmacist (I am a P1 student).

Do not know if it would help. If you still have a relationship with him and want it to keep it then do nothing. Or, you can contact your local state board of pharmacy and report him which would probably do nothing more than create a hearing where he gets a slap on the wrist (I.e. probation for xxx number of days or a week of suspension). In turn your tech cert. could be suspended or whatever. If you want to work in pharamcies again then I would do nothing and go find another job somewhere... good luck....
 

justalayman

Senior Member
Do not know if it would help. If you still have a relationship with him and want it to keep it then do nothing. Or, you can contact your local state board of pharmacy and report him which would probably do nothing more than create a hearing where he gets a slap on the wrist (I.e. probation for xxx number of days or a week of suspension). In turn your tech cert. could be suspended or whatever. If you want to work in pharamcies again then I would do nothing and go find another job somewhere... good luck
What are you talking about. This is an internal matter for Wally World. It has nothing to do with state boards and their regulations.
 
justalayman said:
What are you talking about. This is an internal matter for Wally World. It has nothing to do with state boards and their regulations.
When you gain a CLUE as to what you are talking about then make comments.

The state board of pharmacies are 100% accountable for disciplining pharmacists for their improper acts. Anything that has to due with character, morality, ethics, etc. etc. can result in them taking action against a liscensee. However, they usually only worry about criminal charges and the actions mentioned would result in nothing more than like I said a slap on the wrist. Doctors of Pharmacy are treated a lot better than licensed pharmacy techs and that is just the way it is************** as far as the Wal-Mart job who cares. Pharmacies need techs extremely bad and you could get a job numerous places and quickly....
 

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