For Immediate Release
April 1, 2008

CONTACT: Meghan Scott
202-721-8014
202-538-0362


WAL-MART ASSOCIATES CALL ON LEE SCOTT TO DO THE RIGHT THING IN DEBBIE SHANK CASE

"Not in Our Name," Say More Than 450 Current and Former Wal-Mart Workers

Washington, DC – More than 450 Wal-Mart associates have signed a letter, calling on the CEO of the world's largest retailer to do the right thing, and stop going after nearly half a million dollars from a severely disabled former associate. [FULL TEXT BELOW]

When Debbie Shank, a night stocker at a Wal-Mart store in St. Louis, was struck by a tractor trailer in 2000, her Wal-Mart health insurance covered approximately $470,000 in medical bills. Her family settled with the trucking company, and $417,000 was put into a trust for Shank's lifetime care. Now, Wal-Mart has sued the Shanks to recover nearly half a million dollars.

Hundreds of the company's 1.3 million American employees have spoken out on wakeupwalmart.com.

A.E writes: "Do not include me as one of 'fairness to all associates'. I think, and I have spoken to other associates who think like me, that you are being very unfair and very mean-spirited."

S.W. writes: "They tell [the associates] we have true ‘catastrophic' health insurance NOT really as expensive as it seems—they say—since we pay just a bit extra so that those (few) who would otherwise exceed the typical $1 million lifetime cap are taken care of. We supposedly have the ‘security' of knowing we are covered for the big, long haul if/when needed... ‘We take care of our own'...you are part of the
‘Wal-Mart family' & all that. Maybe that was once true, but it is not Sam Walton's Wal-Mart any more!"

To read the other comments, and view new video of Sam Walton, Lee Scott, and other Wal-Mart executives espousing the importance of "doing the right thing," visit http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/feature/debbie_shank/


Dear H. Lee Scott,

As Wal-Mart employees, we write to you today in support of one of our own, Debbie Shank. As you surely know, Debbie was a Wal-Mart associate, whose life took a tragic turn for the worse when a tractor trailer struck her minivan in 2000, leaving her with permanent brain damage. Two years after this heartbreaking tragedy, Debbie was awarded a comparatively small sum of money to cover the cost of her medical care
for the rest of her life.

Even with a nearly one million dollar settlement, Debbie's family has been unable to move forward in the eight years since this terrible tragedy, and our company, Wal-Mart, is largely to blame. Under your direction, Wal-Mart has inexplicably gone to court to claim a right to Debbie's settlement money. Even worse, you are doing it in our name.

As Wal-Mart employees, we understand that the fine print of the Wal-Mart healthcare and benefits contract gives the company the right to claim money from a settlement like Debbie's to cover expenses already incurred by Wal-Mart's health care plan. However, we believe Wal-Mart, as America's largest employer and a company built on Sam Walton's belief of "respect for the individual," has an obligation to do better. The
extraordinary circumstances of Debbie's case, coupled with the extraordinary profits earned by this company, would justify Wal-Mart overlooking what it is "owed" by virtue of fine print.

Our purpose in writing today is to ask you to give up your claim to Debbie's settlement and allow the Shank family to heal. In addition, we would ask that Wal-Mart cease using us, Wal-Mart associates, as an excuse for your actions against the Shank family. We specifically refer to shameful quotes by Wal-Mart spokesman John Simley, who said
Wal-Mart's lawsuits were brought "out of fairness to all associates."

With all due respect, "fairness to all associates" is an ill-fitting veil designed to cover the true motivation of Wal-mart on this issue. We, the associates below, believe that if anything, Wal-Mart is on the wrong side of "fair." In fact, if we were in your position, we would drop this terrible legal claim and stop prolonging the Shank family's
tragedy.

In closing, we hope you will reconsider your actions and allow the Shank
family to heal.