If you shop at Wal-Mart to finish up that last bit of holiday shopping this week, you may be coming home with more than a good deal--you might be exposed to contagious illnesses like colds and the flu.

Why? As the New York Times recently reported, "At Wal-Mart, when employees miss one or more days because of illness or other reasons, they generally get a demerit point. Once employees obtain four points over a six-month period, they begin receiving warnings that can lead to dismissal." [1] The article continues, showcasing people who say that this type policy means that they've had no choice but to go to work sick.   Sadly, for Wal-Mart employees, staying home when they're sick hurts their family's budget and puts their future employment status at risk.

The demerit policy is backward and unfair.  It's Wal-Mart the company, not it's employees, that really deserves the demerits -- for their unhealthy and unfair policy that's bad for employees and customers.

Give Wal-Mart a demerit badge of its own today by clicking here! www.demeritwalmart.com

With your demerit badge, you'll be telling Wal-Mart to stop punishing employees for taking sick days.

Now's the time to take action! This week is the last full week of holiday shopping before Christmas.  That means now, more than ever, Wal-Mart wants nothing but good press to drive shoppers to their stores.  By sending your demerit badge today, and sharing this message with your friends by forwarding this email now, we can make sure Wal-Mart gets the message at a time when they can't ignore it.

Once at least 40,000 demerit badges are given to Wal-Mart via the link above, we'll issue a press release which is sure to catch the eye of Wal-Mart leadership in this holiday shopping season to ensure they get the point that their demerit policy is unfair, and it's bad for the health of their employees and customers.

Why is Wal-Mart's sick days policy important for all of us? * Wal-Mart's sick days policy is bad for women and families. Women comprise 72 percent of Wal-Mart's workforce [2].  As Gloria Steinem said earlier this year:  "The fact is that women need [access to paid sick days] more than anyone else. Women still have so much more family responsibility than men..." [3] The increased responsibilities for caregiving that women carry mean that women are more likely to be at risk for punishment and termination under bad policies.

* Wal-Mart's sick days policy has public health implications for us all. Wal-Mart employs about 1.4 million people in the U.S. [4] -- that's a lot of people who come to work sick, and expose their coworkers and customers to potential illness.
* When Wal-Mart changes its policies, other companies take notice. Wal-Mart is one of the largest private employers in the country [6].  Therefore Wal-Mart frequently sets the standard (or at least the floor) for many of the policies that other companies put in place.  We've heard from dozens of MomsRising members who say that the company they work for has sick days policies which are similar to the policies at Wal-Mart.  By focusing our efforts on Wal-Mart now, we can set an example for other companies and propel them to change their practices as well.