Walmart Worker Fired For Stopping Assault On Customer Won’t Go Back To Old Job

You may remember last week’s story of the Walmart employee in Michigan who was fired after he intervened to stop an assault against a customer in the parking lot. The retailer subsequently decided to offer him the chance to return to work, but he’s not biting.

“The entire situation has left me with incredible anxiety,” the former Walmart worker, who lost his $8.70/hour job on Oct. 15, tells USA Today. “Walmart feels it’s absolutely not their responsibility to help an associate harmed while on the clock. I have refused their offer to take my job back for fear of retaliation.”

The 30-year-old explains that he wants a formal apology from Walmart, and for the company to remove the fact that he was fired for violating store policy from his employee record.

“They could not guarantee that nothing would happen from management if I did take my job,” he says. “It’s a day-to-day struggle. I feel like if I say the wrong thing, I’m going to have a company coming after me.”

The former Walmarter was on the job earlier this month when he noticed a heated fight between a customer and her ex-boyfriend in the parking lot at around 2:30 a.m.. He intervened and was then assaulted by two of the ex-boyfriend’s pals.

That ex-boyfriend was eventually arrested and charged with drunken driving, malicious destruction of property and domestic violence.

Walmart then dismissed the employee, saying he had violated worker safety rules by getting involved in a situation where he could have been physically harmed.

“While we understand [the employee’s] intentions were good, at the time we believed there were some additional safety concerns,” Walmart said after the incident became national news.

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