I hope the issue I'm addressing on this isn't seen simply as a duplication on the recommended thread.
Jdimytai Damour, the 34-year-old Queens resident who died from a heart attack during the stampede at the Green Acres Mall Wal-Mart in Nassau County, was not a Wal-Mart "Associate" but a seasonal maintenance employee contracted by Wal-Mart through a temp agency.
This is going to raise an assortment of issues, but what I'd like to start with is the official statement from Bentonville: We take seriously the safety of our customers and associates.
Damour was neither, so although I'm sure they didn't mean to, the suits pretty much said he's fair game, collateral damage, whatever.
Was aiding in security at the front of the house part of Walmart's contract with the agency? Either way, did the attempt to block customers from entering early follow any security procedure for the store?
Whose idea was it that a temp be included in the group of employees attempting to block the crowd from entering the store? If not a manager, will the company contend the employees were not acting on behalf of the store, thus reducing its liability?
What percentage of the group of employees consisted of temps? Were they all temps at that hour? Is supervision a provision of the agency's contract on behalf of those temps?
Will the temp agency contend that he was acting outside of the assignment's description and thus ineligible for any kind of liability on its part?
The temp work force is pretty much a given but also a set of issues in overall workplace issues. This is an extreme version of the second- or third-class status temps have in their workplaces.