Walmart announces new leave policy after Kentucky employee sickened with coronavirus
Walmart, the world’s largest brick-and-mortar retailer, announced a new sick leave policy Tuesday after one of its employees in Cynthiana was sickened with novel coronavirus.
Walmart CEO John Furner, Sam’s Club CEO Kath McLay and Walmart executive vice president Donna Morris said the company has created a COVID-19 emergency leave policy: Effective immediately, any employee who has a confirmed case of the virus will receive up to two weeks of paid leave. If they cannot return to work after that time, additional “pay replacement may be provided for up to 26 weeks for both full-time and part-time hourly associates.”
If a store, office or distribution center is “part of a mandated quarantine” or if an employee is required by a government agency or by Walmart to quarantine, the employee will get two weeks of pay and absences will not count against attendance.
A worker at the store in Cynthiana was the first confirmed case of the virus in Kentucky; that employee “is receiving medical care, and her condition is improving,” according to a statement from the company. “We wish her a speedy recovery.”
Gov. Andy Beshear said Tuesday morning that three cases in Harrison County are linked; one is a 27-year-old woman, the others are a 67-year-old woman and a 68-year-old man. Kentucky also had three more confirmed cases as of 9 a.m. Tuesday, including two in Fayette County and a third in Jefferson County.
“After learning of this case, we consulted with state and local health experts, reinforced our cleaning and sanitizing protocol, and with the support and encouragement of the state government, the store remains open,” the company said.
“Your health is our priority, and, as we’ve said before, we want any associate who is not feeling well to stay home,” according to the email to all employees.
Employees who feel unsafe also can choose to stay home, according to the statement. The company will waive its attendance occurrence policy through the end of April. But those employees who are not confirmed cases of COVID-19 will either not be paid or will have to use regular paid time-off options, according to the statement.
The company also announced that in response to COVID-19 the Walmart Associates in Critical Need Trust has temporarily waived eligibility requirements so that employees who have not been associates for 365 days can still apply for grants.
More information on the policies and employee options is available on OneWalmart, an employee website.
Walmart has 11,300 stores in 27 countries, and reported worldwide revenue of $514.4 billion in fiscal year 2019. The company has more than 2.2 million workers worldwide.
The new policy applies only to its 1.4 million employees in the U.S., according to a Walmart spokesman.
This story was originally published March 10, 2020 at 3:15 PM.
