???I want people to understand the magnitude of power that Walmart has,??? says 68 year old Sherian Palmer.
As a result of the four years that she worked for the giant retailer in Florida, Sherian says that her life fell apart. ???I lost my home to foreclosure. I had no income. I haven???t been able to work since 2007 due to medical problems.???
Palmer says she filed a whistle-blower lawsuit against Walmart regarding their dangerous, and illegal handling of hazardous materials inside their stores. She herself suffered from ???multiple chemical sensitivity??? and workplace asthma as a result of the work she did for Walmart. ???I am allergic to many other chemicals now, such as Lysol.???
She won a very small workman???s compensation settlement, but far less than the medical bills she has incurred as a result of her Walmart employment. ???Nobody listened to a word I said,??? Palmer explains. ???Not Walmart. Not OSHA. I suffer still from exposure to toxic chemicals years later.???
Palmer was born in Georgia, but grew up in Miami. She worked as a certified nurse assistant for 7 years before applying for a job at Walmart. She worked for Walmart from 2003 to 2007. Hired initially as a server in a restaurant inside the store, she was transferred to the produce department.
As part of her job, Palmer was required to move the large produce bins on the sales floor, and to mop up underneath the bins using a ???pre-filled bucket??? containing chemicals from the overnight cleaning crew. ???Unknown to me,??? she says, ???the chemicals I was using included Ammonium Hydroxide and 2-Butoxyethanol (2-BE).??? The latter, 2-BE, is a known respiratory irritant and suspected human carcinogen, commonly found in cleaning products, according to research published in The Annals of Occupational Hygiene.
Ammonium hydroxide causes skin irritation, and contact can lead to severe irritation and burns. If inhaled, mild exposure can cause nose irritation (sneezing, coughing). Exposure to high concentrations may cause pulmonary edema, shock, convulsions, cyanosis or central nervous system depression. Acute exposure to Ammonium Hydroxide vapor may result in severe irritation of the respiratory tract, as well as skin irritation, corrosive burns, and blister formation.
Palmer says these toxic chemicals were being used in a closed produce area where fruits and vegetables were being stored prior to being placed in floor displays. Palmer was not given any splash-proof goggles to wear, or rubber gloves, or protective footwear to use.
???I had bad headaches,??? Palmer says. ???So severe I went to see a doctor. I blacked out in his office, and had to be sent to the hospital for three days.??? She was sent home with an inhaler, and a long list of ???heavy antibiotic??? medications, off and on months. ???I had rashes that went up my legs, blisters, and severe burning on the roof of my mouth,??? she told Sprawl-Busters.
On another occasion on the job, Palmer got dizzy and climbed into a food display on the floor, where she blacked out. One of her co-workers had to remove her from the display, and she was rushed to the hospital.
Palmer complained to Walmart about her working conditions. The company told her: ???If this is making you sick, why are you still doing it???? Palmer???s doctor told her: ???If you stay there anymore, its going to kill you.??? Palmer asked Walmart for medical leave, but she was told that she filed her paperwork one day too late. The retailer ultimately fired her before her workman???s compensation claim came up.
Palmer says Walmart was dumping these toxic chemicals into the floor drains of the produce room. ???These are the same kinds of violations that led to Walmart being fined $27 million in California in 2010,??? Palmer notes. ???Dumping bleach down a sink drain was one violation that was cited by the District Attorney in San Diego County.???
Her small workman???s compensation claim did not last long. ???I had so many bills, and I had no money coming in. I spent more than $6,000 just for care in my home. In 2013 I lost the home that I bought for my mother and me, and had lived in for 11 years. We both had to relocate, and the only place I could find to rent was a 5 hour drive from my mother.??? Palmer had to wait for five years for her disability claim to be approved.
Palmer also filed a whistle-blower claim with OSHA, which she says went nowhere. ???I sent them all the information about the hundreds of thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals being dumped down the drains seven days a week. Walmart falsified the safety data sheet to say they only used alcohol and water to clean their floors—no ammonia???and they whited out the two main toxic chemicals.??? Palmer says OSHA ignored the list of chemicals that she copied from the bottles at the store. (She kept the bottles.)
Palmer’s produce manager at Walmart told her later that OSHA had fined the retailer $45,000 for Palmer???s accident on the job, because it led to a hospitalization. But Palmer says she never saw a copy of that penalty.
Palmer says it was the right thing for her to report Walmart???s dumping of toxic chemicals. ???They put all their waste today out in hazmat barrels. What does that tell you????
???Walmart took away my health and my income,??? she says. ???Once you lose your health, no one can give it back to you.???
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???I want people to understand the magnitude of power that Walmart has,??? says 68 year old Sherian Palmer.
