Walmart drops effort to seek reimbursement for the cost of caring for a former employee

Wonderful news for the family of Deborah Shank: Wal-Mart is dropping its controversial effort to collect the moneys they paid for her medical care and treatment following a car accident in 2000.

According to the The Wall Street Journal, the retailer said in a letter to the Shank family on Tuesday that "Ms Shank's extraordinary situation had made the company re-examine it's stance" and that the case had made Wal-Mart revise its rules to "allow for flexibility in individual cases."

Wal-Mart had been widely criticized in newspaper editorials and on cable news programs for its claim to the funds, which it made in a lawsuit that was upheld by a federal appeals court.

As noted in an eariler post, Shank, 52, who paid her health insurance through Wal-Mart where she worked stocking shelves, lost much of her memory and her ability to communicate and walk following an accident between her minvan and a tractor trailer in May 2000, and now lives in a nursing home. Walmart was seeking reimbursement for the moneys they paid for her care after she received a settlement from the trucking company involved in the accident.

"I would just like to let them know that they did the right thing. I just wish it hadn't taken so long." Debbie Shank's husband, Jim, said, upon hearing of Wal-Mart's reversal.

Yep, Wal-Mart, it was a good thing thing to do.

Read more here and here.