Wal-Mart ordered to pay fired Wasilla employee

WASILLA -- An Administrative Law Judge for the National Labor Relations Board has ordered Wal-Mart to reinstate with back pay an employee who was fired from the company's Wasilla store in March of 2001. Wal-Mart was also ordered to post and mail-out notices to store employees explaining that all employees have a right to a witness during disciplinary meetings with management.

The decision by Administrative Law Judge Burton Litvack is under appeal by Wal-Mart, according to company spokesperson Cynthia Illick. Asked if that meant the company would not be paying the former employee or posting notices to its Wasilla store employees, Illick wouldn't say yes or no.

"That decision is under appeal," Illick said.

Wal-Mart employee Ken Stanhope was fired after refusing to stay in a meeting with two supervisors unless he had a witness of his choosing also in attendance. Judge Litvack found that Wal-Mart had violated Stanhope's right to a witness, also known as his "Weingarten right" named after a previous NLRB decision that established the right.

Stanhope was being investigated for possible disciplinary action after a conversation with another employee about union activity, but store managers testified that it was the manner in which Stanhope spoke and not the content of the conversation that caused concern.

Stanhope's case against Wal-Mart was filed by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.

Wal-Mart managers told the NLRB judge that they fired Stanhope for using profanity and "invading the space" of another employee during the course of the conversation about the union.

"Our company is not anti-union," Wal-Mart spokesperson Cynthia Illick said. "However, we have a profit-sharing relationship with our associates that encourages them to be directly involved in the management business. And our associates have made the choice not to have a union represent them."

Illick also said that Judge Litvack's opinion had specifically rejected the notion that Stanhope was fired for discussing union activity on the job. The judge's findings of fact included testimony about the Wal-Mart's so-called "union hotline" which employees -- the company calls them associates -- are encouraged to call to report union activity in their store.

One of the two managers involved in the Stanhope incident testified that they could not recall using the union hotline despite the fact that they had been trained to do so. The manger also didn't know if anyone had used the union hotline in regards to the incident in question.

Managers did however, call the company's Bentonville, Ark. headquarters in order to seek advice about Stanhope's alleged foul language and alleged harassment of a co-worker. And they would later call the Wasilla police on the day they terminated Stanhope and asked him to leave.

When asked about the hotline, Illick said the company has a "host of numbers" that employees use to call the home office for various work related topics.

The UFCW's involvement in Stanhope's case seems to be part of a larger effort to organize Wal-Mart employees nationwide. The company operates more than 2,485 Wal-Mart stores and 456 Sam's Club stores in the United States. It also operates stores in nine other countries including China by a joint venture agreement.

None of Wal-Mart's stores have been successfully organized by a union, according to Illick.

However, in February, 2000, the meat cutters working in the butcher department at a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Jacksonville, Texas voted 7 to 3 in favor of organizing under the UFCW banner. Wal-Mart closed the butcher department in Jacksonville 11 days later.

Illick said that the closure was part of a plan that had been set in advance of the labor election.

"There is no longer a meat department there. The company had planned to go to pre-packaged meat before the vote. That plan had already been in the works." Illick said.