The diabetic know that low blood sugar can mean life or death. It all makes things bad for employer Walgreens--a former employee suing the company in a complaint that alleges the store fired her over a bag of chips. Josefina Hernandez says she opened the snack when an onset of diabetes symptoms came on, while she was working. And that ended her employment.
The company that claims to value its employees is looking pretty stupid: Walgreens fired a loyal employee over snacks, or specifically one snack that turned out to be kind of required to maintain the health of a cashier.
It all happened back in 2008 but the legal complaint is just wending its way through the court system. Hernandez didn't steal the chips -- the Walgreens cashier paid for them at the first opportunity, when she was able to temporarily leave the checkout lane. The discount store's former employee says she normally kept emergency candy in a pocket in case of diabetic onset. But when she reached for a piece of candy, her emergency stash was gone. On duty at the time, the clerk reached for something to raise her blood sugar quickly. But then she was fired by Walgreens -- after almost two decades of employment with the store.
Walgreens actions are strange. Even if the company had been out a buck or two over a bag of chips -- which was instead paid for by the cashier, meaning the store was actually out zero -- the cost of covering that cost would still have been a lot less than any health care related to treating diabetic shock, or worse. But the chain has cost itself a lot more: The complaint against Walgreens claims the company is in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act -- that the company didn't reasonably accommodate its employee with the known disability or illness of diabetes. That equals a big-time lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) -- the complaint alleging Walgreens discriminates against the disabled.
It all looks bad for Walmart considering the woman fired had no disciplinary record in an 18-year term with the company at the time of firing. The Walgreens defense: ironically the company claims a zero-tolerance policy for theft or stealing. The cost of the chips: less than two bucks -- or $1.39 to be exact. The cost of bad PR and a nasty lawsuit for Walgreens: It may not be priceless, but the cost of legal defense and defending itself publicly isn't cheap. The store can count on some extra advertising that probably won't come close to balancing out the bad public relations the company incurred.