Walmart Sued By Family Of Employee Who Died From Coronavirus

At least four Walmart supermarket employees in the U.S. have died from the coronavirus and two of the workers are from a Chicago-area store, a Walmart spokesperson confirmed Tuesday.

“We are heartbroken at the passing of two associates at our Evergreen Park store and we are mourning along with their families,” the company said in a statement.

A wrongful lawsuit was filed against the giant store chain and the two names identified in the suit were Wando Evans, 51, and Phillip Thomas, 48 — two individuals who passed away.

Evans’ brother, Toney Evans, filed the suit against Walmart Inc. on Monday in a Cook County Circuit Court, claiming willful and wanton misconduct, reckless disregard and gross negligence.

NBC News reports:

The suit alleges that managers at the store in Evergreen Park, about 17 miles southwest of downtown Chicago, failed to alert workers after several employees began showing symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

Walmart “had a duty to exercise reasonable care in keeping the store in a safe and healthy environment and, in particular, to protect employees, customers and other individuals within the store from contracting COVID-19 when it knew or should have known that individuals at the store were at a very high risk of infection and exposure,” the lawsuit states.

Wando Evans, an overnight stock and maintenance associate, first began experiencing symptoms in mid-March and told a store manager, “but was ignored,” the brother’s attorney, Tony Kalogerakos, said in a press release.

On March 23, the 51-year-old was sent home from work. Two days later he was found dead in his home.

Kalogerakos said that Walmart had a responsibility to notify store employees that a colleague was showing symptoms of the coronavirus, but they did not. Four days after Evans’ death, Thomas died of the virus, according to the suit.

Walmart spokeswoman Anne Hatfield said that the store has conducted a deep cleaning, and as “an extra precaution,” an outside company was brought in to further assist in disinfecting the store.

Hatfield said the company has not yet been served the lawsuit, but they “take this issue seriously.”

Last week, the company announced that it was making operational changes which included checking the temperatures of store employees and providing masks and gloves to those associates who want them.

Over the weekend, the company began limiting the number of shoppers allowed inside its stores at once. In an April 3 press release, Walmart said customers would be allowed to enter through a single door on a one-by-one basis.

“Once a store reaches its capacity, customers will be admitted inside on a ‘1-out-1-in’ basis,” Walmart said.

Los Angeles City Councilman Curren Price told NBC News grocery store workers are among those on the front lines of the pandemic, and “we have to make sure they have the protections they need throughout their shifts.”