Walmart sued by family of an employee who died of coronavirus

Quarantine is important as people need to stay at home during the lockdown so they remain safe from the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. America is one of the worst affected of the virus and people continue to stock pile from the grocery store so they do not have to move out frequently. Under such circumstances, workers have become an integral part but unfortunately they are the most vulnerable ones to get infected from coronavirus. The family of Wando Evans, who was a 51 year old worker with Walmart, is suing the retailer for gross negligence.

Evans worked as an overnight stocker at Walmart located at Chicago area. The family of Evans has claimed for wanton and willful misconduct with reckless disregard and gross negligence. The suit has also alleged that Evans had tried to bring to notice at Walmart that he was experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 but the management had ignored it. The worker was ten sent home on March 23, 2020 but just two days later he was found dead at his residence. The lawsuit that has been filed has mentioned that it was the duty of Walmart to create a healthy environment with precautions to protect its employees as they are the ones who are the most vulnerable. It was also mentioned that it was also the responsibility of the retailer to protect the customers and other individuals within the store from contracting the virus.

In recent times, Walmart has been criticized to be slow in taking measures to protect its employees and customers from contracting the virus. It was just last week, the retailer had announced that they were taking precautionary measures like checking on the temperature of the workers. Member of a labor advocacy group and worker with Walmart, Melissa Love said Walmart has been careless and in terms of passing the emergency leave policy until an employee had tested positive for COVID-19.

Love added that most of the employees still don’t have masks, gloves and hand sanitizers.

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