After the recent mass shootings in the US, Thomas Marshall, an employee of Walmart, posted two internal memos, which were widely circulated within the organisation. Through these memos, Marshall, an e-commerce category specialist, urged the staff to pressurise the management to stop selling firearms, by calling in sick and signing a petition.
Following the circulation of the mail, Marshall and a colleague who was party to the call for protest, have been denied access to their accounts. It is almost like they have been terminated without having been directly told so. Not only have their e-mail accounts been blocked but they have been shut out of Slack, a workplace collaboration platform, which is where Marshall had originally made the protest public.
However, according to Walmart, the access to their accounts has been denied to the two employees because their intention was to stop work for the day, whereas all communication channels in the company are provided to the employees only to facilitate work. As per the Company, access will be resumed for the two concerned employees after a thorough review of the matter and situation.
The Company also clarified that it does not intend to stop selling guns/firearms or ammunition. The employees in question have been chided for their actions, and the Company believes they did not resort to a constructive way of expressing their opinion or giving feedback.
Marshall and his colleague, Kate Kesner, are not taking the matter lightly, and are determined to seek legal advice.
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