Subscribe to my Feed
« How well did the legal system serve the Shanks family? | Home | Federal court decision highlights the need for airlines to self-regulate »
Wal-Mart has apologized to the Shanks family!
By Lauren | April 2, 2008
Faced with a tidal wave of public indignation, Wal-Mart has wisely decided to drop its claim for reimbursement of medical expenses its health care plan paid to former employee Debbie Shanks. I’ve already laid out the details of the case in prior posts, so I won’t repeat them here. Suffice it to say that Wal-Mart has recognized at last that suing a seriously disabled woman and her family for what amounts to “decimal dust” on the financial statements of a multi-million dollar corporation was a very, very bad idea.
Still, I have to ask: Wal-Mart, what took you so long?
Wal-Mart Executive Vice President Pat Curran said in a letter to the Shanks family that “[o]ccasionally, others help us take a step back and look at a situation in a different way. This was one of those times.” Curran promised that Wal-Mart would drop its claim for reimbursement and would work with the Shanks family to ensure that the remaining amounts in Debbie Shanks’ trust could be used for her ongoing care.
I’m very glad that the torrent of customer outrage and threats of national boycott gave Wal-Mart an incentive to take another look at its actions, and I applaud Wal-Mart’s management for finally getting the message. At the same time, it’s worth pointing out that Wal-Mart took its own sweet time getting around to this decision and, in the meanwhile, the Shanks family suffered tremendous stress and uncertainty, a point that Curran himself acknowledged. Good of Wal-Mart to apologize; bad of Wal-Mart to have taken so long to do so.
Above all else, an apology has to be sincere to be effective. When the person (or, in this case, company) making an apology dawdles, the final result is suspect at best. While I would love to believe that Wal-Mart is genuinely sorry to have put the Shanks family through the ordeal of an extended lawsuit, I’m inclined to think that Wal-Mart was more concerned about its public image than it was about the welfare of a former employee and her family. If the public hadn’t learned about Wal-Mart’s suit against the Shanks and gone collectively ballistic, would Wal-Mart have dropped its suit? Sad to say, I doubt it.
Topics: Apologies, Business Ethics, corporate responsibility |