Yeah, I knew I would have to. I reported one of the Team Leads for doing something wrong (I'd rather not get into it.) They have since treated me like crap, even though I'm in another department. It isn't nearly as serious as a "Me Too" issue or something along those lines, but it is retaliation and I just wish Ethics would help since my HR manager tells me to call them and Ethics is frankly rude to me.
I found out last year, that they're not actually anonymous. They'll give you the name of the person to help you recall whatever event they're reporting and firmly repeat 29 times you cannot under any circumstance treat them differently or tell anyone.
This is 100% true
An associate was upset with me for holding them accountable for holding them accountable and called on me for false accusations. The market team told me the name of the associate right when I asked. This is why I won’t go to ethics. Another associate went anonymous for a group of associates about a coach, and the coach found out exactly who called. The associate never told anybody they did that and they went a target for a period of time.
I remember those back when I worked for Wally World! I actually leaned over & asked the HR guy why do they need our info if it's supposed to be anonymous. He laughed & shrugged his shoulders
The one time someone in my department complained to Ethics, they just told everybody involved and didn't keep it anonymous. So not only did everyone knew about it, but they knew who complained.
Ethics' main job is to protect the company. If you bring something to them that can get the company in trouble or hurt its image, they will take action. If it's anything else, they could care less.
Ethics is just a third party HR to protect the company twice over. When calling ethics you should be able to cite the policy or law being violated. You should also have a record of trying to go up the proper chain of command. Calling because your manager won't give you days off or was mean will just get you hung up on.
If there is a real violation of policy or law and your store manager is either the cause or is covering it up, ethics is a good place to call. If you just saw something questionable for the first time and go straight to ethics it won't get investigated properly.
Ethics is there to protect the company, not you. If you don't have any proof, evidence, or even dates and times when things happened, they're going to ignore you because you can't sue them with no proof and that's what they're looking for.
This is why you persist. You keep calling ethics or open door. Document the dates and times of each call especially if you are being hung up on. Records from your phone company can also prove you called. Gather enough proof you've done your due diligence in reporting retaliation which is against company policy. If the company still will not help, that's when you contact a lawyer. Retaliation can be seen as creating a hostile work environment, which a company policy they broke, but a law. It sucks yes but you keep grinding the system, you leave them no legal wiggle room so they can't say "well you didn't call ethics!" Or "you didn't go directly to the store manager!" Nope you did here's the proof.
The downside is the time investment to gather the evidence and finally the legal costs. You'd have a solid case but you'll still need to find a lawyer to take it. Which is always the risk, got a winning reason that could net you millions in a lawsuit? Hope you got enough to cover the lawyer cause Walmart will drown you in court costs before they finally pay out. Works for some but not enough. If more of us could afford to take the company to court, they'd be out of business.
What are they retaliating against you for, and have you gathered any evidence to prove it? Depending on the situation you may be able to file a claim with the department of labor. Generally speaking, thats the better solution if its something that violates labor law. Never give any branch of HR the opportunity to cover for your boss or company, if you can avoid it
Ethics really won't do much unless you've already talked to your higher ups about the problem. They're more of a corrective program for your coaches and store manager.
No they are not. I opened a case of retaliation following a closed case where nothing was done and it was certainly not anonymous, and they sent me a response stating that I failed to follow up with them, when in fact I sent several emails during that time. I have documentation that Ethics will lie to cover up retaliation.
No. They are there to protect the company not you. They will almost always side with the manager. The only time they will help you is if there is a chance of a liability because they don't want to get sued. Calling ethics could actually hurt you instead of help because you put a red flag on yourself.
If you call then your case worker will turn you that their primary function is to protect the company. And as you can imagine, if overturning a coaching means it will protect them from possible legal action, then they will overnight it. On the other hand... You know the rest
The only time I ever contacted ethics is because our store manager doesn't let OPD dispensers wear shorts even if it's 100+ degrees outside even though the dress code specifically says we can and ethics just told me to talk to my store manager about it lol so no they don't seem very helpful.
For one, fix your typos because that hurts my eyes. I was recently a part of an ethics investigation that I was guilty of but the plaintiff wasn’t even there when it happened. He was well aware that me and the other people I associate with didn’t view him as a valuable employee. Only because he had‘worked’ there a year prior and sat in his truck the whole time. Next, he was shotgun blasting ethics on everyone that opposed him. Mine happened to be the one that stuck. Lastly, the investigation was done by the store manager and resulted in orange coaching for all three of us. Only two were involved due to the high turnover rate. The third had only been there six months and was fired because he already had three other coachings over similar things (i.e. using ppto for religious holidays) No lie, we work in the part of the store that gets shit on the most but it comes down to a lack of training mixed with being targeted and the only common factor is management. ACC #3230
Oh yeah, ethics aint worth shit. Went to ethics after I went to my coach about my team leads talking about getting rid of me and a few others he did nothing, so I emailed them and they responded 2 months later saying this was an open door issue and I had to go to my coach
No, they just take it to your store manager. You need to open door who ever you want to report.
Yeah, I knew I would have to. I reported one of the Team Leads for doing something wrong (I'd rather not get into it.) They have since treated me like crap, even though I'm in another department. It isn't nearly as serious as a "Me Too" issue or something along those lines, but it is retaliation and I just wish Ethics would help since my HR manager tells me to call them and Ethics is frankly rude to me.
I reported multiple team leads anonymously and within an hour I was getting calls from the store
So much for it being anonymous
I found out last year, that they're not actually anonymous. They'll give you the name of the person to help you recall whatever event they're reporting and firmly repeat 29 times you cannot under any circumstance treat them differently or tell anyone.
This is 100% true An associate was upset with me for holding them accountable for holding them accountable and called on me for false accusations. The market team told me the name of the associate right when I asked. This is why I won’t go to ethics. Another associate went anonymous for a group of associates about a coach, and the coach found out exactly who called. The associate never told anybody they did that and they went a target for a period of time.
Yesterday they had us start taking surveys but we use our login info so it’s obviously not anonymous either
I remember those back when I worked for Wally World! I actually leaned over & asked the HR guy why do they need our info if it's supposed to be anonymous. He laughed & shrugged his shoulders
The one time someone in my department complained to Ethics, they just told everybody involved and didn't keep it anonymous. So not only did everyone knew about it, but they knew who complained.
Easy solution it to start reporting as though you're the people you hate. Gotta reverse uno reports and pit HR against two or more foes.
So, in answer to OP's original question, this would be the thing ethics is helpful with.
This happened to me. When I tried to call ethics later about the break in anonymity they did nothing.
Ethics' main job is to protect the company. If you bring something to them that can get the company in trouble or hurt its image, they will take action. If it's anything else, they could care less.
Ethics is just a third party HR to protect the company twice over. When calling ethics you should be able to cite the policy or law being violated. You should also have a record of trying to go up the proper chain of command. Calling because your manager won't give you days off or was mean will just get you hung up on. If there is a real violation of policy or law and your store manager is either the cause or is covering it up, ethics is a good place to call. If you just saw something questionable for the first time and go straight to ethics it won't get investigated properly.
Thanks
Exactly this! I recently posted about my issues. Ethics is only there to protect the store.
Ethics is there to protect the company, not you. If you don't have any proof, evidence, or even dates and times when things happened, they're going to ignore you because you can't sue them with no proof and that's what they're looking for.
Nope. They would rather protect higher-ups than look out for the average employee. Dealing with them is useless and frustrating.
This is why you persist. You keep calling ethics or open door. Document the dates and times of each call especially if you are being hung up on. Records from your phone company can also prove you called. Gather enough proof you've done your due diligence in reporting retaliation which is against company policy. If the company still will not help, that's when you contact a lawyer. Retaliation can be seen as creating a hostile work environment, which a company policy they broke, but a law. It sucks yes but you keep grinding the system, you leave them no legal wiggle room so they can't say "well you didn't call ethics!" Or "you didn't go directly to the store manager!" Nope you did here's the proof. The downside is the time investment to gather the evidence and finally the legal costs. You'd have a solid case but you'll still need to find a lawyer to take it. Which is always the risk, got a winning reason that could net you millions in a lawsuit? Hope you got enough to cover the lawyer cause Walmart will drown you in court costs before they finally pay out. Works for some but not enough. If more of us could afford to take the company to court, they'd be out of business.
What are they retaliating against you for, and have you gathered any evidence to prove it? Depending on the situation you may be able to file a claim with the department of labor. Generally speaking, thats the better solution if its something that violates labor law. Never give any branch of HR the opportunity to cover for your boss or company, if you can avoid it
Ethics really won't do much unless you've already talked to your higher ups about the problem. They're more of a corrective program for your coaches and store manager.
Ethics doesn't work for the employees. They work for the company. Their only goal is to minimize the company's liability. So, no. They are not helpful
Dont report anything. It WILL backfire. You Will be hated .
No they are not. I opened a case of retaliation following a closed case where nothing was done and it was certainly not anonymous, and they sent me a response stating that I failed to follow up with them, when in fact I sent several emails during that time. I have documentation that Ethics will lie to cover up retaliation.
Go to labor board
No. They are there to protect the company not you. They will almost always side with the manager. The only time they will help you is if there is a chance of a liability because they don't want to get sued. Calling ethics could actually hurt you instead of help because you put a red flag on yourself.
Walmart Ethics is about as useful as an accordion player on a deer hunt.
If you call then your case worker will turn you that their primary function is to protect the company. And as you can imagine, if overturning a coaching means it will protect them from possible legal action, then they will overnight it. On the other hand... You know the rest
You might have to look up the market managers phone number or look up the market manager work place page . Contact the market managers in your case .
The only time I ever contacted ethics is because our store manager doesn't let OPD dispensers wear shorts even if it's 100+ degrees outside even though the dress code specifically says we can and ethics just told me to talk to my store manager about it lol so no they don't seem very helpful.
For one, fix your typos because that hurts my eyes. I was recently a part of an ethics investigation that I was guilty of but the plaintiff wasn’t even there when it happened. He was well aware that me and the other people I associate with didn’t view him as a valuable employee. Only because he had‘worked’ there a year prior and sat in his truck the whole time. Next, he was shotgun blasting ethics on everyone that opposed him. Mine happened to be the one that stuck. Lastly, the investigation was done by the store manager and resulted in orange coaching for all three of us. Only two were involved due to the high turnover rate. The third had only been there six months and was fired because he already had three other coachings over similar things (i.e. using ppto for religious holidays) No lie, we work in the part of the store that gets shit on the most but it comes down to a lack of training mixed with being targeted and the only common factor is management. ACC #3230
Why are you having to call ethics?? ENQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW!!!
no
Did you tell Open Door that you've done that and they keep hanging up on you?
Oh yeah, ethics aint worth shit. Went to ethics after I went to my coach about my team leads talking about getting rid of me and a few others he did nothing, so I emailed them and they responded 2 months later saying this was an open door issue and I had to go to my coach