Wal-Mart fires employee for donating items meant for trash

While working for an Iowa Wal-Mart, Mary P. Tigges donated children's items destined for the trash heap to a charity that supports low income families.

Those donations got her fired for breaking a company policy.

Tigges, who worked in the store's claims department, had been donating items to New Opportunities, a non-profit that provides free or low cost goods to low income families, according to a Nov. 18 unemployment benefit ruling from Blair A. Bennett, administrative law judge. 

When Wal-Mart was alerted, the 'employer was upset and stated that certain items are not to be donated - they are to be destroyed and thrown away,” according to the ruling. 'Employer's policy is that displays are to be thrown away.”

A Wal-Mart spokeswoman said the woman was giving away children's furniture that had been used as a floor model display, allowing customers a better look at the product for sale. That violates a company policy, she said.

"Product safety is our top concern for our customers," spokeswoman Erin Hofmann said. "Those items were demo items. Because they are demo items, we have no way of knowing if they meet our safety standards. Those items are not allowed to be donated or sold." 

Tigges declined to comment when reached by phone.

After being confronted, Tigges asked for a specific list of which items were not to be donated, then went on medical leave, according to the ruling.

When she returned to work two months later, she still had not received a list of items not to donate and resumed giving children's items to charity, Bennett wrote. The store learned of her actions and discharged her from employment on Oct. 1.

Tigges had initially been denied unemployment benefits in an Oct. 22 decision, but the ruling was reversed on appeal so she can receive benefits. The appeal was detailed in Bennett's Nov. 18 ruling.

Wal-Mart failed to prove Tigges acts constitute misconduct, and she 'was not willfully violating employer's policy, as she did not know the specifics of the policy,” Bennett wrote.

Tigges participated in the appeal hearing with her husband, and Wal-Mart was represented by assistant store manager Kristy Maasen.

Chad Jensen, chief executive of New Opportunities, said he was not aware of the situation with Tigges because people can drop off donations without leaving their information. Jensen said the agency, which provides a range of social services in a seven-county area including Audubon, Calhoun, Carroll, Dallas, Greene, Guthrie and Sac, has a great relationship with their local Wal-Mart.

He said the store has donated thousands of dollars, recently provided 400 hours of volunteer work, and donate to their food pantry. 

"They are rock stars," he said. 

Richard Koontz, director of the Larned A. Waterman Iowa Nonprofit Research Center at the University of Iowa, said he has a hard time understanding why the items couldn't be donated.

"I don't know," he said. "The only thing I can think of is they see a risk that she's not operating on her own but as an agent of the store, and they have liability if something goes wrong ... It's too bad for charities."

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