Walmart’s phase out of greeters worries disabled

Associated Press

As Walmart moves to phase out its familiar blue-vested “greeters” at some 1,000 stores nationwide, disabled workers who fill many of those jobs say they’re being ill-treated by a chain that styles itself as community-minded and inclusive.

Walmart told greeters around the country last week their positions would be eliminated April 26 in favor of an expanded, more physically demanding “customer host” role. To qualify, they will need to be able to lift 25-pound packages, climb ladders and stand for long periods.

That came as a heavy blow to greeters with cerebral palsy, spina bifida and other physical disabilities. For them, a Walmart job has provided income and served as a source of pride and a connection to the community.

Now America’s largest private employer is facing a backlash as customers rally around some of the chain’s most beloved employees.

Walmart says it is striving to place greeters in other roles, but workers with disabilities are worried.

Donny Fagnano, 56, who has worked at Walmart for more than 21 years and has spina bifida, said he cried when a manager at the Lewisburg, Pa., store told him his job was going away.

Fagnano was offered a severance package, but hopes to stay, cleaning bathrooms instead.

Walmart greeters have been around for decades, allowing the retail giant to put a friendly face at the front of its stores. In 2016, greeters at more than 1,000 stores were replaced with hosts, with responsibilities that include not only welcoming customersm but helping with returns, checking receipts and keeping the front of the store clean. Walmart and other chains have been redefining roles as they compete with Amazon.

The effect of the greeter phase-out on disabled and elderly employees who traditionally gravitated toward the role largely escaped public notice until last week, when Walmart launched a second round of cuts.

As word spread on social media and local and national news outlets, outraged customers called Walmart to complain. Tens of thousands signed petitions. Facebook groups with names like “Team Adam” and “Save Lesley” sprang up. A second-grade class in California wrote letters to Walmart’s CEO on behalf of Adam Catlin, whose mother had written an impassioned Facebook post (Walmart has offered Catlin another job).

In Galena, Ill., hundreds of customers plan to attend an “appreciation parade” for greeter Ashley Powell on her last day.

“I love it, and I think I’ve touched a lot of people,” said Powell, 34, who has an intellectual disability.

With the U.S. unemployment rate for disabled people more than twice that for workers without disabilities, advocacy groups worry Walmart is backsliding.

The issue has prompted complaints to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, plus a federal lawsuit in Utah alleging discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Walmart did not disclose how many disabled greeters could lose jobs, but said after the 2016 change, 80-85 percent of affected greeters found other company roles. It did not reveal how many were disabled.

Last week, greeters were told they would have the customary 60 days to get another Walmart job, Amid the uproar, the deadline was extended indefinitely for greeters with disabilities.

“We recognize our associates with physical disabilities face a unique situation,” Walmart spokesman Justin Rushing said in a statement. The extra time, he said, will give Walmart a chance to explore how to accommodate such employees.

Walmart said it has already made offers to some greeters and expects to continue in the coming weeks.

But some say they have been tacitly discouraged from applying for other jobs.

Mitchell Hartzell, 31, a full-time Walmart greeter in Hazel Green, Ala., with cerebral palsy said his manager told him “they pretty much didn’t have anything in that store for me to do” after April. He said he persisted, approaching several assistant managers to ask about openings, and found out about a vacant position at self-checkout. But it had already been promised to a greeter who doesn’t use a wheelchair, he said.

“It seems like they don’t want us anymore,” said Hartzell.