An ex-professional hockey player and construction worker with a high sense of personal ethics returns to his hometown in suburban St. Paul, Minnesota after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989.
He lives quietly in his township with his family of nine brothers and sisters and two daughters where he worked various jobs in the construction trade.
By all accounts, he is a devout Catholic and attends church daily.
At his family’s deer shack in November 2008 located about 45 miles northwest of Duluth, Minnesota James Cunningham is found on the floor, unable to speak, and paralyzed by his brother Mike.
He has had a stroke. Cunningham was taken to a hospital in Duluth where he had another stroke.
Only emergency brain surgery saves his life.
Once surgery was over, James Cunningham begins all kinds of speech, occupational, and physical therapy. This left him in a wheelchair but he made a recovery according to his brother.
The consecutive strokes left Cunningham unable to handle more than one task at a time so he stopped doing jobs like siding and roofing because he was afraid he would lose his balance.
Six months later in April 2009 he began working part-time at Sam’s Club (very large division of Walmart) as an overnight shelf stocker. A year later some of the staff was cut and Cunningham’s workload and duties increased.
He immediately informed his supervisors about his medical condition and the troubles he was experiencing with the increased duties of his job. Clearly, he did the right thing which says much about the man and his personal ethics.
Unfortunately, his work problems continued which led to his bosses asking Cunningham to go home and write an action plan to correct the problems. Cunningham knew at that time there was nothing he could do remedy wise according to members of his family.
In fact, Cunningham met with his bosses and asked if he could resume his old duties and tasks when the staff was double the size. According to his brother, Mike, Cunningham was adamant about being truthful and not writing lies to satisfy his bosses.
Due to the fact that he did not write an action plan and return to work, Sam’s Club fired him. Apparently, the lack of management skills and burden of dealing with a disabled person was too much to bear for Cunningham’s bosses at Sam’s Club.
After he was fired, Cunningham filed for unemployment compensation. Walmart challenged his eligibility and a state unemployment judge ruled in their favor saying that Cunningham was ineligible for any benefits because he had been fired for misconduct.
Cunningham sought out help feeling that he had been wronged and found a legal aid clinic at the William Mitchell School of Law who was understanding and sympathetic to his case. The co-director of the Clinic and his assigned law student said Cunningham wanted to be treated with respect and dignity, that he was “not out for Walmart’s blood.”
The appeal was filed in January 2011 and the brief supporting the appeal was filed in April 2011. The day after the supporting brief was filed, Cunningham was hiking along railroad tracks near his home and was hit by a train he apparently could not hear!
Cunningham’s family conveyed to the Clinic that they wished to press on hoping to overturn a ruling and decision they felt was unfair from the beginning.
A three judge appeals court panel on December 27, 2011 reversed the Department of Employment and Economic Development’s denial of employment benefits. The court wrote, “The conduct for which Cunningham was discharged was a consequence of his mental impairment and he did not commit employment misconduct.”
The decision meant that Cunningham could be paid unemployment benefits until the time of his death, an amount estimated at a few thousand dollars.
Justice was rendered at great odds considering that Cunningham’s case was handled by an honors student who had not previously argued a case in a courtroom. Even more boggling was the fact of the 354 state unemployment cases taken to the Appeals Court, only seven in 2011 were reversed.
What does this say about big business and their lack of personal ethics?
Are we to believe that big companies are so inflexible in their treatment of full-time and part-time employees, that they only can revert to their employer manuals to deal with issues like this one?
Doesn’t personal ethics and looking out for other employees mean anything in the overall scheme of things?
Does fairness, decency, consideration, and courtesy matter anymore?
Walmart refused to answer or respond to questions when contacted about this case. On that basis alone, I refuse to do business with them on any level.
When employers put their own needs in front of their employee’s welfare, this behavior and conduct cannot stand.
Practice good personal ethics and always strive to do the right thing!!
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