Walgreens sued over firing diabetic who took chips

When Josefina Hernandez, a longtime Walgreens employee with diabetes, felt an attack of hypoglycemia coming on in September 2008, she grabbed a $1.39 bag of chips and ate them to boost her blood sugar, she said. Hernandez said she paid for the chips as soon as she could leave her cashier's post at the South San Francisco drugstore. She said she tried to explain her actions to Walgreens, but the company fired her.

So a woman who worked for the company 18 years, with NO disciplinary issues whatsoever has a medical emergency and eats a bag of chips that she pays for as soon as she can and is fired? What the hell Walgreens? I understand that employee theft is a huge problem, I get that but do you really not have the capability to overlook this? I wouldn't even call it theft as she paid for the merchandise. Perhaps she could have acted differently, getting another employee or manager to grab her something but this just seems like a horrible reason to fire an employee.

What do you guys think of this one? Did Walgreens do the right thing or should they have let this 'theft' slide?

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They should have compassion for her. At the same do they allow to keep her purse at the register so she can keep something in it available. If they do not allow that which most stores don't allow than this truly a heartless act on walgreens part. When a person's blood sugar drops it happens suddenly and can even lead to diabetic coma. It is not the woman's fault that she has a medical condition! She paid for it later. In an emergency situation you have to think on your feet.

reply to post by dreamseeker


I'm not all that familiar with diabetic issues but I was under the impression this comes on very suddenly and can actually be quite dangerous. I like your thought about keeping some food close by.

reply to post by Domo1


An employee of 18 years is an employee with 18 years of yearly raises under their belt. She's probably making a butt-load of more money than some newbie they could just hire off the street. If the woman has been working there for 18 years and is still just a cashier, the company could fire her and bring in a new kid at minimum wage and they'll be thankful to take over her job.

I'll bet they were just looking for an excuse to let her go so they could bring in a new, pimply faced kid for a lot less. I think this was an economic decision on the part of Walgreens where money comes first and people come last (just like every single other company out there ).

it all revolves around money.
top dogs would rather her be on pills so she can keep coughing up the cash...
sure theres cures to diabetes and cancer and aids, but if the big pharmacompanies released pills for a cure there would be 2 problems
1. ailment cured, company recives no money
2. over-population

im sick of this kinda crap...the lady broke 1 rule in like 18yrs and got fired....for a medical condition

I for one wouldent care if an employee ate some chips to regulate her blood pressure or blood sugar, srry i dont know much about dieabetes. you know id probably take the 1.25$ out of my paycheck for her.

reply to post by FortAnthem


That is an incredibly good point. Back when I was working retail I remember a number of occasions when the old timers would get fired for ridiculous reasons and two new kids would take their spot, probably for about the same pay divided.

Hypoglycemia is very dangerous, she could
have passed out. I think Walgreens just saw
this as an opportunity to fire her so they would
not have to pay the wages of someone that had
been there 18 years. For crying out loud the
place is a drug store, they know medical conditions,
they were very cruel in their decision to fire her
over a bag of chips that she paid for. Where is
the compassion in this world.

reply to post by crazydaisy


The part I find truly irritating is that she wasn't trying to hide that fact that she took the chips, and she paid for them. Lets pretend that someone gashes their leg open and Walgreens medical kit is nowhere to be found. You going to let the woman bleed out or borrow some damn gauze?

Guys, stop complaining, this is the Invisible Hand making the world a better place. As long as all other companies act as selfish as Walgreens, the world will be a utopia. It's the pesky companies that treat their employees with dignity who are ruining this world.

This is ridiculous, I used to have pretty severe hypoglycemia, that I cured through diet. Anyways, I depending on where I worked at the time, I would do this occasionally. None of my employers ever had a problem with it. I agree, they just wanted an excuse to fire her.

reply to post by calstorm


The zero tolerance policy certainly sounds like a crock when you factor in that she paid for her food. I have no experience with hypoglycemia but I did think it was dangerous. Glad you're better!

You have to factor in, she was panicky, scared, and possibly not thinking straight from the blood sugar drop(I know some diabetic people, they really can't think straight if their blood sugar isn't right).

To call that a crime, especially when she paid back, is ridiculous.

~
Consider this story though, women steals chips, gets caught, pays up, still in trouble, so she blames it on her diabetes(I've also seen other crimes blamed on low blood sugar long after the fact). Manager or whoever knows better, and fires her.

Really, you need the whole story to cast any judgement here. Don't just assume Walgreen's is in the wrong. If legal action becomes of this, they'll release their side too. Then it can be judged.

reply to post by xxsomexpersonxx


You make a very good point and we shouldn't hop to conclusions without the full story. When I was doing Loss Prevention EVERYONE that stole tried to pay for it, employees included. They were never allowed to so I don't think this is the case.

Ultimately, a company has the authority to terminate an employment contract.

While I certainly disagree with the way the Walgreens manager handled this - I cannot really see where there is legal recourse.

reply to post by Domo1


What's the surprise here?
That's the working world man, they don't care about your medical needs, just that you do what they want.
And if you do something they don't like, your done...that's what being on the workforce is.
It's terrible, she should had not of been fired, but hey, it's another open job for me to snag.

I'm a diabetic and i've had my blood sugar crash on me. You can feel when it's coming on. I always carry some candy with me as a result. This lady should've had something near by or in her pocket just in case.

However on the surface her getting fired for something she did pay for in the end, appears to be a little much. It appears to be more of an excuse to fire her than anything else.

Come on its a retail job. The economy is crap. 18 years shes prolly not making that much more then minimum wage but probably 3 or 4 bucks over unless she was a supervisor of some sort.

Bottom line she was getting paid more then someone else to do the same job. The currpt retail company found an excuse to save a few bucks an hourly labor wage and fired her.

The biggest cost to any retail company is labor costs.

Most states fall under a fire and hire at will clause and you even sign a paper that says they terminate at will since thier is no contract.

Thiers no more job sercurity, thiers no more work ethics that will keep your job. I remember when being on time and having good work performance kept your job. Not anymore what do most big corps. do when they felt they didn't make enough. They do mass layoffs................

Thats why we need a workers bill of rights cause I believe we have the right to work don't you. They sure do think they have the right to tax us.

I work in retail and in most stores what she did is a big no no. I dont think they were looking for any excuse to fire her just because she'd been there for a long time. I knew a girl that got fired for buying something while she was on the clock. Had been at the store 2 months and was making minimum wage. She broke the policy and paid the consequences. Since when has being held accountable for your actions become cause for a lawsuit. She knew she was a diabetic and should have had a jolly rancher or something in her purse.


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They shuldnt have done anything. i mean she paid for the things as soon as she could so its not like she was actually stealing. That just shows how unappreciative the store was to her. She could have just been like you know what i'm having a reaction i'm sick so I am going to go home and you have to call someone else in and pay them overtime. She didnt though she grabbed somethin to bring it up and even paid for it and gets fired what kind of a thank you is that? Besides she shuld have been coverd under the Americans with Disabilities act anyway. I hope she wins in court and walks out the owner of that company.

Just proves that the stupid person is always in charge.