Walmart Employee's Family Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit

EVERGREEN PARK, IL – The family of a Walmart employee who died from the new coronavirus has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Cook County – saying the company initially ignored him when he started complaining of symptoms.

Wando Evans, 51, and Phillip Thomas, 48, both from Chicago, died from COVID-19 in late March. Cook County Medical Examiner reports indicated that both men died of COVID-19 infections complicated by other underlying medical conditions. Both worked at the Walmart store at 2500 W. 95th St.

On Monday, Evans' family filed a wrongful death lawsuit on his behalf in Cook County Circuit Court. Included in the lawsuit are allegations that store managers were aware that Evans and Thomas, as well as several other employees, were exhibiting signs and symptoms of COVID-19. In addition, it is alleged that the employees contracted coronavirus at the store and that the store ignored employees who said they were experiencing symptoms.

The lawsuit alleges the store failed to clean and sterilize the store, did not enforce social distancing guidelines, and did not provide employees with appropriate personal protective equipment.

Walmart released a statement in response to the lawsuit:

"We are heartbroken at the passing of two associates at our Evergreen Park store and we are mourning along with their families. While neither associate had been at the store in more than a week, we took action to reinforce our cleaning and sanitizing measures, which include a deep-cleaning of key areas. Within the last week, the store passed a third-party safety and environmental compliance assessment as well as a health department inspection. As an extra precaution, we brought in an outside company to further clean and sanitize all high-touch surfaces in the store, which included the decontamination of front entrances, carts, registers and bathrooms, as well as food areas including produce and meat.

"Additionally, we have taken steps across the country to protect our associates and customers, including additional cleaning measures, installing sneeze guards at registers, placing social distancing decals on the floors and limiting the number of customers in a store at a given time. We’ll continue to take steps, such as screening associates, conducting temperature checks, and providing masks and gloves for associates that want to use them.

We take this issue seriously and will respond with the court once we have been served with the complaint."

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Following the deaths, Walmart's liquor license was suspended and then reinstated by Mayor Jim Sexton.

"It seems like they're trying to make a bad situation better," Sexton said. "The store is safe now for workers and shoppers. Everything is going to be changed now."

The Illinois and Cook County public health departments are also closely monitoring the Evergreen Park store for more reported cases of employees falling ill to coronavirus and sanitation efforts.

"The county and state are watching very closely," Sexton said. "Our own health department is watching."

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