Wal-Mart returns job to worker who stopped attack
Oct 19, 2013, 12:38 AM
HARTLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) – Kristopher Oswald said he did the right thing when he interrupted the assault of a woman in a Michigan Wal-Mart parking lot, even though it violated the national retailer’s policies for employees.
And after firing Oswald from the Hartland Township store, northwest of Detroit, Wal-Mart has decided to give him his job back.
“We looked into the situation, reviewed the facts, talked to witnesses,” Brooke Buchanan, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said Friday. “While Mr. Oswald broke a policy of ours _ a policy put in place to protect our associates and our customers … we realize Mr. Oswald’s intentions were good.”
The Bentonville, Ark.-based company left messages for Oswald to tell him he still had a job, but as of late Friday had not received a reply.
Oswald told WXYZ-TV in Detroit earlier that he wasn’t sure if he would take back his job if offered.
The 30-year-old has said he was in his car on his break about 2:30 a.m. Sunday when he saw a man grabbing a woman. He said he asked her if she needed help and the man started punching him in the head and yelling that he was going to kill him. Oswald said he was able to get on top of the man, but then two other men jumped him from behind.
Livingston County sheriff’s deputies arrived and halted the fight.
Oswald said store management decided to end his temporary assignment. He had worked for Wal-Mart for about seven weeks.
“We have a protocol in place: See something. Say something,” Buchanan said Friday. “We encourage associates to alert their management and call police.
“There are circumstances where we need to take a step back.”
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