Tracy Morgan Sues Wal-Mart Over Deadly Crash

[FalloutJack]

Obviously, Walfart should take a beating on this. Aside from just plain deserving it, it's damning to find human lives ended - others injured - on your clock, so to speak. And if they don't get the punishment they deserve, I call upon comedians everywhere to ruthlessly ream the hell out of the stores until they bend!

 

[camazotz]

Sorry, I'm not calling anybody al a liar but 24 hours without sleep doesn't impair you that badly. 3 or 4 days fucks you up but 2?

I know it's akin to drinking alchol 'cos youre reactions are so slowed but how fast is this trolley tractor going? Not saying the article is wrong but I think it's more to do with the tractor than the lack of sleep.

My personal experience (and I spent time working as a driver for a several years) says differently. I could, and often did pull long hours with very little sleep on night shifts and I had a devil of a time getting sleep during the day. If I went more than 24 hours without sleep I always noticed a difference...if you don't then either you're fooling yourself or you have a superhuman constitution.

 

[Keiichi Morisato]

It's an issue of both pay, hours, and lack of employees.

When I had first starting working for Walmart nearly a decade ago, they had enough employees in each department to cover when some was sick. Now if someone is sick, a department can go empty all day because the second employee for that department were too busy trying to take care of the 3 other departments they are expected to work in that day, plus be called up front to work the register whenever the lines get too long because cashiers are short handed. Literally, there are days when they only have once maintenance worker covering that 190k square foot building, and you'll hear them call for maintenance to multiple locations in the store at once. Then the maintenance worker gets written up for not getting to all the areas immediately when they were called.

They've started posting messages on the walls by the clock in station, with messages from some random big wig at corporate, telling us the importance of making sure the shelves remain fully stocked. It's as if they are intentionally ignoring that there are not enough employees to keep things stocked. These human beings can't split into two to get the job done.

I can imagine this is happening among truck drivers, there isn't enough drivers and trucks to get the goods delivered within the time period WalMart needs. My store got so backed up on on goods in our back room, we had to do a purge and send the stuff to other stores for them to sell. We just couldn't get them out on the floor and sell them as fast as they came in. Add to it, I think truck drivers are not getting paid enough and instead of demanding more pay they are actually demanding 80 hour work weeks, dressed up as needing more time to get their trucks to their destinations on time.

It's like nothing is more important than getting a truck load of material objects to a destination on time. Not even a human beings life.

WalMart is openly ignoring the danger they are presenting by pressuring all their employees to work outside what they are humanly able to do.

my ex-gf's mother died at the cash register, it was a aneurism. she literally just fell to the floor dead, I can think few worse deaths than dying at the cash register of a Wal-Mart.

 

[Issurru]

It's an issue of both pay, hours, and lack of employees.

They've started posting messages on the walls by the clock in station, with messages from some random big wig at corporate, telling us the importance of making sure the shelves remain fully stocked. It's as if they are intentionally ignoring that there are not enough employees to keep things stocked. These human beings can't split into two to get the job done.

This, right here. I've worked both at Wal-Mart and Extra Foods and in the 4 or 5 years I worked at Extra Foods, and the year I worked at Wal-Mart sucked ass. I got into a management position at Extra Foods and I had to deal with BS conference calls, meeting, training, and deal with a few district managers and above. I can tell you that the majority of people above even a simple store manager give absolutely ZERO fucks about if your store has enough employees, and guess what if shit doesn't get done because you're short staffed because everyone knows how much it sucks to work retail. You're the one who gets the luxury of working 12+ hours a day 7 days a week.

While I have to say that obviously not every district manager or higher up is that way, my experiences have left me a bit jaded. But I always stuck/stick up for them because I know the conditions they work in, so when people start bitching and moaning in a grocery store I normally, kindly inform them of what the situation probably is.

OT: It's sad what happened, hope he gets better soon. It's also sad that the only thing this will accomplish for Wal-Mart will be another useless "Rule" that is never enforced due to any number of other reasons

 

[Dalisclock]

I want to hope this will bring to light a lot of the shit Walmart does. I want to, but somehow I don't think it will happen. The people who care already know about it and a lot of other people just don't care at all.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

Reading recent news about Lindsay Lohan and Scarlet Johansen suing their creators due to some mild similarities to fictional characters, I'm happy to see somebody getting sued (a giant corperation) for justifiable reasons. Killing his friend and mentor, fair enough, potentially impariring him for the rest of his life is extra cream 'get the fuck outta here' cake.

 

[direkiller]

From what I've read, I think the blame mostly belongs on the driver. It sounds like he had been up for a long time before even going into work, which is a case of him acting irresponsibly. He wasn't even maxed out on his daily hours, though he was close. So, personally, I think the majority of the blame is on the driver, and he should face prosecution.

He most likely will.
Still when suing in an accident you sue the company/person that pays for the insurance, in this case Walmart.

 

[Remus]

Why is this story even on this site?

Because it is. It gets really old seeing people ask the same dumb question with every single story not related to videogames. Wal-Mart is a big company. And this is putting it mildly. It's a safe bet that the majority of people that frequent this site currently work or at one point have worked there. Just as it's a safe bet that pretty much everyone knows who Tracy Morgan is and might have enjoyed his standup, time on SNL, Community, or Scare Tactics. One is suing the other. That's news, pop culture news that one would not normally see on the big networks because they're too focused on Benghazi, Iraq, and various other mass killings. The Escapist has diversified, in case you haven't realized. It's not just a videogame site anymore and has not been for quite some time.

 

[Crackerjacks]

Sorry, I'm not calling anybody al a liar but 24 hours without sleep doesn't impair you that badly. 3 or 4 days fucks you up but 2?

I know it's akin to drinking alchol 'cos youre reactions are so slowed but how fast is this trolley tractor going? Not saying the article is wrong but I think it's more to do with the tractor than the lack of sleep.

Lol because we're all a hive mind with the same reaction to lack of sleep. I know if I go 24 hours without sleep I am a complete, barely functioning wreck.

As for OP: Geeze. I hope he recovers. Pretty sucky someone had to die because of Wal-Marts terrible practices. I know anecdotes aren't valid in arguments but I've heard enough from Wal-Mart employees to say Wal-Mart is probably at fault to a high degree here. We'll have to see what the court decides on that, though.

 

[K12]

A lot of celebrities make a lot of frivolous lawsuits against companies with very shakey rationales.

THIS IS NOT ONE OF THEM.

Puts the whole Lindsay Lohan thinks someone in GTA5 looks too much like her thing into perspective.

The kind of long hours that truck drivers are often expected to put up with is one of those things that is probably illegal but no-one brings it up because "everyone else seems fine with it" and nobody wants to go up against their employer for something like that. Odds are they'd just have everything turned on them anyway and I think Wal-Mart are in a very good position for that to be the case in this instance.

It's a huge shame that this kind of tragedy is the only way that these things actually get addressed properly.

 

[Adamantium93]

Everyone knows Walmart pushes its employees to their very limit on low pay to cut corners.

Walmart and every other company out there.

[snip]

If anyone is to blame.. it's the driver. I mean he should have had better judgement. If you suspect you are too out of it to safely do your job... then take a day. The worst that could happen in that scenario is you lose your job ... in this case he's already lost his job so in the end it was poor judgement on his part.

Every company may mistreat their workers to some extent, but WalMart goes above and beyond in that regard. This is the company that was revealed to be cooking the books so they didn't have to pay their employees a fair wage or give them benefits owed to full time workers. This is a company where "you're a woman and you're black" is seen as a justified reason for not promoting somebody. This is the company that fires workers for gathering in groups during breaks. This is the company that, rather than pay their workers a livable salary, asked customers to donate food for them.

And blaming the drive is easy without any proper perspective. I would not be surprised if WalMart makes him drive shifts that are too long or too frequent.

"The worst that can happen in that scenario is you lose your job". Yeah, so what if his kids starve? He can always have more.

Now, did WalMart force him to work long shifts? Was he working the job to support a family that had no other income?

Maybe, maybe not, but its probable enough to not dismiss it outright as "he should know better".

 

[Skeleon]

Yeah, we still get truck drivers who are overworked around here sometimes, but if they are caught, there are consequences. The drivers are mandated by law to take regular breaks and get sleep and whatnot. I'd hate to see our roads without such legislation, even if it obviously cannot prevent all cases. Do the USA have similar and Wal-Mart broke the law or are the regulations more lax on that point? Because, frankly, it wouldn't surprise me if it was the latter.

 

[harlok]

I've talked to several Walmart drives while I was working for the company. Drivers are regularly asked to keep two sets of driver logs so they can drive over their set hours. I doubt the court will find Walmart guilty as they have spent alot of resources creating a level of deniablity between their illegal demands and whats written on paper. Usually this is done by saying "you don't have to work the extra time but if you don't we'll cut your hours to nothing" I witnessed alot of this working for them and majorly contributed to me finding a new line of work.

 

[epicdwarf]

Question: Shouldn't he be suing just the driver or the driver as well? It was the driver's job to made sure he/she was awake and able to properly drive the vehicle.

 

[Jopoho]

Question: Shouldn't he be suing just the driver or the driver as well? It was the driver's job to made sure he/she was awake and able to properly drive the vehicle.

An employer is responsible for the actions of an employee while they are on the clock. I suppose you could try to sue the driver instead, but Walmart has the same legal culpability and you can sue them for a lot more.

Also, I cannot imagine a world where they do not settle this out of court.

 

[Macsen Wledig]

Question: Shouldn't he be suing just the driver or the driver as well? It was the driver's job to made sure he/she was awake and able to properly drive the vehicle.

Depends, if the company made him work longer hours than he was legally allowed to work (which happens, we have tachographs for a reason) then they are also responsible.

 

[BoomingEchoes]

Everyone's talking about Walmart and how bad they are, yadda yadda, but no ones mentioned why the post says Morgan maybe permanently disabled --really no article or news story has said anything about why this is a big thing for him.

Tracy Morgan has serious diabetes. Like the sort that if you're not careful, they'll have to hack off your leg. Kevin Smith told a story fairly recently on one of his podcasts about how when he was shooting Cop Out. Bruce Willis wouldn't come out of his trailer before noon, meanwhile Tracy Morgan is a whirling dervish of energy and ideas -but between takes had to take off his shoe and put his foot into a machine that would pump the puss out of it, because he had stepped on a tack at some point in his life and the diabetes had made that tiny prick into a hole you could look through. He'd get done doing that, put on his shoe, and be right back on set looking to do more, even though he was in tons of pain.

Love the guy or not, he's an effing trooper.

So fast forward to now, and how bad his leg was injured in this wreck; the diabetes caused a pin prick to turn into a hole in his foot, think about what a broken leg could have done. If he comes out of this mess completely whole, without some sort of heavy limp or constant wound to tend to, I'll be astonished. That sort of thing directly effects his job and his ability to work further.

So it's highly unsurprising to me that he's going after them, and I'm behind his case. If not for him but for his friend and mentor's family, who lost someone dear to them because Walmart needed their cheap crap so fast a dude couldn't' stop to take a nap. No one should have been hurt for this reason, sick, rich or whatever.

 

[Happiness Assassin]

As someone who has both worked at Wal-Mart and is the child of a former Wal-Mart executive, all I can say is... good. I hope they fucking clean them out. There are so many things wrong that go on behind the scenes, I refuse to shop at any of their stores now. I can't remember how many meetings we had where topics like "keeping the rat problem quiet" was brought up. Plus the usual shit about how badly employees are treated. My mom eventually quit cause she couldn't take the corporate backstabbing bullshit.

 

[Ticklefist]

It's a shame to see these victims so transparently capitalize on what is truly a tragedy.