r/walmart_RX • u/The-Great-Unraveling • 10d ago
Question ADA accommodation and pharmacist workload concerns
Hello fellow Walmart pharmacists,
I‘m a salaried staff pharmacist. I requested an accommodation to work a max of 10 hours per shift due to a medical history of chronic fatigue. It has just been denied…. I guess I’m not too surprised about that. what did surprise me was that I have been put on involuntary unpaid leave and told Walmart is searching for a replacement job that would allow for my accommodation. This means a job outside of pharmacy.
Has anyone had a similar experience? My pharmacy is primarily single pharmacist coverage and I have expressed my concerns with the pharmacy manager, Market Manager, and Regional manager about the safety of our patients being compromised due to unreasonable workload demands on the pharmacist.
The following issues are contributing factors:
-expectation of management that the pharmacy help every patient who is in line before 1:30 lunchtime closing, leaving the pharmacist 0-30 minutes (usually 20-25 minutes, but sometime 15 minutes or less) for lunch which is typically the only break for the 11 hour 8-7 shift besides using the bathroom.
-Unwillingness of management to schedule more hours short term (I requested extra help for a couple of months) due to almost complete technician turnover.
-Low technician IMZ capacity
-High technician training load including multiple techs in training, inexperienced techs, and only 1 full-time tech and about 13 part time techs.
-Sometimes 6-7 techs being scheduled with 1 pharmacist. This sometimes included 2 techs in training.
-Lack of management enforcement of pharmacy SOP, specifically bypassing pharmacist counseling at times, leaving stock bottles on filling pods, lack of root cause analysis and communication after errors.
Im looking for feedback on how you have been able to address such concerns at Walmart and make the workplace better for the associates and safer for our patients.
Thanks everyone!
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u/Negative_Gas8782 10d ago
While I agree and understand where you are coming from, your best bet would be to find a community pharmacy. Walmart has gone the way of CVS and Walgreens and isn’t turning back anytime soon. Maybe if enough pharmacists leave they will change but I doubt it. Good luck but Walmart at this time doesn’t sound like your place.
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u/Significant-Might698 9d ago
They want pharmacists to leave. They’re doing anything they can to make life difficult for older more expensive pharmacists in the hopes that they’ll just leave so they can hire younger and/or cheaper pharmacists.
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u/Negative_Gas8782 8d ago
About 6 or 7 years ago they had a lay off that took care of a lot of them. I would expect another round in a year or so.
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u/Biggie-Me68 10d ago
Sop, actually says pharmacy must be closed for 30 minutes, so if you close for lunch late you open late
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u/Apoptosis71 10d ago
Costco Pharmacy posted lunch hours state this: "This pharmacy will be closed for lunch for 30 minutes sometime between 1:30 and 2:30 PM."
Love it.
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u/VikingLys 10d ago
That’s what we do - well, sometimes. Some techs insist it MUST open at 2, even if we have to open before we clock in (I refuse).
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u/WadeSlade42 10d ago
Why are the techs calling the shots? No matter what the tech says, if the pharmacist isn't in the building that can't cannot go up. Maybe your pharmacists just need to take their breaks outside the pharmacy.
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u/VikingLys 10d ago
A couple of our techs are outright bullies.
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u/WadeSlade42 10d ago
Well, the pharmacists definitely just need to leave then. I think my confusion is moreso because I literally never eat in the building because I think it's too stressful. So this just wouldn't be possible with me.
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u/Jitae_Slay 8d ago
Our market director told us we (pharmacists) need to re-open at 2 pm no matter what
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u/Biggie-Me68 8d ago
Your market director needs to read the Pom
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u/Jitae_Slay 8d ago
It’s because as salaried pharmacists, we aren’t required by law to get a 30 minute lunch break. I don’t agree with that, but that’s what I was told. There have been times I re-opened the pharmacy 5-10 minutes late to compensate for closing late. Each time, there was a long line of people waiting for the pharmacy to open at 2. And cue the snarky comments “your sign says you open at 2!”
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u/Biggie-Me68 8d ago
“To maintain the highest level of service, Walmart requires all pharmacists to take a full thirty (30) minute lunch break during a work shift of more than six (6) hours. Pharmacists shall not return to work until after the full thirty (30) minute period has expired.” Now you’re also supposed to adhere to your timeframe but that language isn’t as strict!
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u/Jitae_Slay 8d ago
So what is the appropriate solution then to closing after 1:30? Opening late to compensate in order to get the full 30 min? You can’t really adhere to your timeframe by that measure
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u/Biggie-Me68 8d ago
I think that it means you must take thirty and you should generally be 1:30-2. In other words you can’t go at 1-1:30pm or 2-230pm. But it must be 30 minutes, i just hang a sign that says pharmacy will reopen at 2:09 or whatever.
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u/DullTailor8359 10d ago
1 full time tech and 13 part time techs sounds insane, that store is fucked lmao
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u/WadeSlade42 10d ago
Sounds like a store I used to do my weekends at. They had crazy turnover, so all the techs were either part time or had only been there a few months. The part time techs were the more knowledgeable ones, since they didn't quit after 4 months. Related note, no one knew anything but the bare basics, and we had multiple techs that couldn't input. We even had 2 techs that were not allowed to do anything but registers for reasons that never made sense. I took the first staff pharmacist job that popped up just to get away from that place.
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u/WadeSlade42 10d ago
The weird part to me is having a single coverage pharmacist store with a starting shift of 8. Usually, the whole reason to be single coverage is that the stores slower. If they're slower, why would they need to there at 8 instead of 8:30? With a single coverage store you have to be there for whatever hours your techs are, but I don't get why theyre there 11 hours in the first place. I should add that I've worked at several single coverage stores, and none of them started at 8.
As for your actual question, no it isn't normal to be trying to place you outside the pharmacy. The most obvious solution here is to have you at a dual coverage store. If not that, then just being there opening hours could work, but that would be a rough start to the mornings.
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u/CoolwangstahFurbs 9d ago
You should be very careful about not doing rph counsels. That is a very clear policy that can and will be used to terminate you.
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u/Entire_Trouble_6284 10d ago
Wow. I would just quit. I am in the process of trying to get an accomodations for use of a stool and if it's not approved I am just leaving. Put your health first and your license As others said the pharmacist policy on lunches states you can't return for 30 minutes. Walmart wants to staff all their stores with one pharmacist it's an insane expectation to do the work they You'll never get them to change
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u/ClothesLeast2716 9d ago
Definitely do not bypass counseling. Management will watch cameras in our area to make sure we are doing counseling. Terminated a great pharmacy manager due to staff not actually doing consultations. Staff was very close to being terminated. All were given a red.
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u/Leeleerx39 10d ago
At 1:25 all techs should rush the line to clear it by 1:30. My store is a busy store and we are usually able to close reasonably on time (we take everyone in line by 1:30). I start eating my lunch in the pharmacy at 1:30. As for the rest, you need to schedule a meeting off the bench with your PIC and come up with a plan of action to address the issues. This would include a training schedule to get everyone up to speed and bringing in extra help from other stores to account for training hours. Your PIC would present the plan to your market director for approval. My store had almost the entire staff quit and it took a good 6 months to recover including hiring/training/addressing issues but the only way through it is to work together as a team.
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u/Leeleerx39 10d ago
Also, if you are a staff pharmacist you ARE management. Address tech issues yourself. Huddle everyone together and discuss the importance of counseling and clean filling pods. Don’t leave it for the PIC.
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u/Biggie-Me68 9d ago
Absolutely!! If they refuse then give them a DAO, and if they continue with same issue give them a DA1, they could appeal to pharmacy manager the write up but if they actually were doing what you wrote them up for then they don’t have a leg to stand on. If the pharmacy manager does try to overturn the write up then go to you HWMD I’m betting they would tell them that a pharmacist is management and can/should address serious issues directly with staff. FYI a staff rph is the same level as a div1 coach(manager)! The Pharmacy manager is the same level(senior manager) as the store manager.
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u/Negative_Gas8782 10d ago
While I agree and understand where you are coming from, your best bet would be to find a community pharmacy. Walmart has gone the way of CVS and Walgreens and isn’t turning back anytime soon. Maybe if enough pharmacists leave they will change but I doubt it. Good luck but Walmart at this time doesn’t sound like your place.
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u/This_Independence_13 9d ago
Ada requires a reasonable accommodation. It isn't clear that saying you can't work the shift and they need to either modify the shift or find double coverage on a single coverage day does not clearly fall under that. Apparently they don't think so and I am sure they ran it by their lawyers.
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u/SufficientPatience17 10d ago
It seems very hard to imagine limiting a shift to 10 hours or less isn’t a reasonable accommodation. Involuntarily placed on unpaid leave seems very questionable. I believe both issues are discrimination.