Aside from being one of the tackiest retailers on the planet, Wal-Mart is also one of the most heartless organizations in existence. Take a look at this story in the Wall Street Journal about a woman who worked for Wal-Mart. She was hit by an 18-wheeler and now has severe brain damage. Her insurance policy with Wal-Mart paid for her medical expenses; however, after she won a lawsuit against the trucking company, Wal-Mart came after the money she was awarded. The bottom line is: read the fine print in your medical policies. Basically, the insurance company gets anything awarded in a lawsuit after they have paid medical expenses for the policy holder. The woman has no money to pay for her on-going medical costs and she’s very disabled. Wal-Mart is pure, unadulterated evil. All they care about is more profits at the expense of their employees.
Update: On April 2, 2008, news feeds announced Wal-Mart decided to drop the lawsuit (after much bad press) and let the disabled former employee keep what little money was left in her trust account for her ongoing care. It really doesn’t change my opinion of Wal-Mart much, since they only did the right thing after being pressured by the general public.