No Consideration For Birth Of Newborn Child
So the thought of getting a raise seemed awesome, and I had previously worked at that store so I knew everyone there. How could I not? For a month I was able to work any hours given to me. In my entire 6 years at Wal-Mart, I never had a need to change my availability for anything. I was their ‘go-to’ girl who knew just about every end of the store from the front end to Electronics. And then, I had my baby. I had no idea what Wal-Mart was capable of in terms of treatment of new mothers. When I came back from maternity leave, I was given no more than 30 minutes to pump breast milk for my son. Thirty minutes is hardly any time to get lunch through the checkout and eat, let alone eat lunch and use a breast pump for a complete session. Any breastfeeding mother can tell you that. As for keeping my position, there was more disappointment to be had. I had no intentions of putting my son in daycare but I still needed a full time job. I was always under the impression that anything 36 hours and over was considered full time, so I had to adjust my schedule accordingly. I stayed within the full time hours, but every other week, I was called into the office to discuss whether or not I had found a babysitter, or reconsidered daycare. And every time I said, “No”. I was then told I had to get back to my 40 hours per week status, or I could lose my position. I finally became so aggravated with being called into the office like a high school delinquent to discuss what changes I was prepared to make, (more or less, what sacrifices I’d be willing to suffer) that I flat out told my managers, “I never said nor did I promise anyone that I would be putting my son in daycare.” Then I started in with the fact that I was still considered a full time associate with the hours I was currently working, so how could they say I needed to “get back to my full time status”? They couldn’t answer me immediately. Instead, they said they needed to discuss it further with the Market Manager and they would “let me know”, which means, here we go again, another office meeting. This was, however, my final office meeting, in that I learned that my position was going to be posted and I could move to the wireless phone area if I wanted to. So, I was demoted to a lesser paying job and expected to do 3 times the work, because I was cross-trained in all areas of the metroplex. I also had to train the person who took my posted department manager position, as well as another new associate in that department. Never once did I get any recognition, which is par for the course, I know. Not one, “Good Job”, “Nice Work”, or even a “Thanks for being a good team player”. What I did receive was a write-up for having too many unexcused absences, all of 4. The majority of those were due to my needing to take care of my child. A family-oriented company indeed! Honestly, the Wal-Mart Associate slogan should be, “Slave Money….Live Poorer”.
—anonymous
