Walmart Employee Fired for Reporting Dog Locked in Hot Truck

A Walmart employee in Kemptville, Ontario claims to have been fired after calling the police to report a dog locked in a hot truck with the windows rolled up. Walmart has denied this as the reason for her termination.

Employee Fired

Carla Cheney told her story to CBC News earlier this week, and Walmart has since issued a response to the high-profile story.

Cheney states that she spotted the man putting a dog into a truck with the windows almost completely rolled up. She was standing outside of the Walmart with other employees before beginning her shift for the day. She decided to wait “five or ten minutes” to see if the man would quickly return to his car, and claims she didn’t call the police because she saw another person taking down the license plate number. Cheney described a brief exchange she had with the man as he left the store:

I said, “You shouldn’t leave your dog in the car.” He told me it was none of my business, and I said that that was fine and that if I saw him do it again, I would just call the police next time. He said he was no longer going to be shopping at that Walmart.

The man returned to the store later to complain to the manager, who called Cheney into his office and terminated her for being rude to a customer. There had been a previous incident regarding Cheney and a dog locked in a hot car. In that incident, Cheney called the SPCA and was told by her manager report to him with “any problems in the future” rather than taking matters into her own hands.

Cheney has retained a lawyer and plans to bring a wrongful-dismissal suit against Walmart.

Walmart Response

Walmart claims that Cheney was not fired due to the dog incident, but declined to state the reason.

“The associate in question was absolutely not let go for trying to help a dog in a locked car. The decision to dismiss an associate is one that we take extremely seriously and must follow a comprehensive process. However, out of respect for the associate and for privacy reasons we cannot provide specifics about why this associate was let go.”

The chain has also said it will now post signs in Canadian stores warning customers about leaving children and pets in hot cars. They also claim to have “long-standing protocol” in place which instructs employees to notify authorities should they see an animal in danger, and that they would review these policies with Kemptville employees.

The story comes after several high-profile cases in Canada such as a dog that died after being left in a hot car in Toronto in June, and a child who died in a hot car in Edmonton.

Video

You can see a news report on this story below.

Sources

• Wal-mart employee fired after reporting dog in hot truck (CBC News: July 10, 2013)
• Ex Walmart Worker Says She Was Fired For Telling Police About Dog Stuck In Hot Truck (Chris Morran, Consumerist: July 11, 2013)
• Walmart denies employee fired over dispute about pet in hot car (The Star: July 12, 2013)