Human Rights Impact Assessment | Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility

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<h4>Resolution Details</h4>
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<strong>Company:</strong>
<p>Walmart Stores, Inc.</p>
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<strong>Year:</strong>
<p>2025 </p>
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<strong>Issue Area:</strong>
<p>Human Rights & Worker Rights </p>
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<strong>Focus Area:</strong>
<p>Human Rights Due Diligence, Worker Rights, Health & Safety </p>
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<strong>Status:</strong>
<p>Filed</p>
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<h2>Resolution Text</h2>
<p>RESOLVED, that shareholders of Walmart Inc. (“Walmart” or “Company”) urge the Board of Directors (“Board”) to report to shareholders on the governance measures Walmart has implemented since 2019 to more effectively monitor and manage human rights risks related to workplace health and safety, including whether and how the Board (or Board committee) oversees policies that affect the Company’s injury rate, attendance policies impacting worker health and safety, and the provision of paid sick leave, as well as whether and how senior executive incentive compensation arrangements changed in response to health and safety concerns. The report should be prepared at reasonable cost and omit confidential and proprietary information.</p>
<p class=”p1″>SUPPORTING STATEMENT</p>
<p class=”p3″>Workplace health and safety problems create serious risks that can impair corporate performance. Studies have shown a positive association between workplace safety and health and productivity.1 Poor health and safety performance can damage a company’s reputation and relationships with stakeholders.2</p>
<p class=”p5″>Boards are increasingly expected to exercise robust oversight over human capital management (“HCM”) matters, including worker health and safety. A leading law firm’s 2021 memo characterized HCM as a “board-level issue with vital strategic and risk oversight implications.”3 The memo recommends steps boards should take to enhance HCM oversight, including adopting a sustainability reporting framework, finalizing the board’s responsibilities, and linking executive pay to HCM objectives.</p>
<p class=”p7”>Walmart, the largest U.S. private-sector employer, has had serious worker health and safety issues for years:</p>

It reported the second-highest rate of severe workplace injuries among U.S. employers between 2015 and 2022.4
A recent survey found that 74% of Walmart warehouse workers always or sometimes feel pressure to work faster; a quarter disagreed with the statement, “I can meet my performance objective/make rate without risking my safety or health.” Over halfreported experiencing heat stress in the previous three months, and half report bum out from their job.5
A 2017 report detailed how Walmart’s attendance policies discourage workers from obtaining medical care by punishing them for medical absences.6 A Walmart worker who felt faint shortly after reporting to work at a short-staffed store and was reportedly told to”pull herself together” had a heart attack in the store’s bathroom at the end of her shift and died.7

<p class=”p1″>The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health named Walmart one of its “dirty dozen” unsafe companies for 2024. Among other things, the “dirty dozen” report cited the 1,100 shooting incidents occurring at Walmart stores since 2014, killing 300.8 In November 2022, a Walmart manager killed six after opening fire in a store break room.9</p>
<p class=”p3″>Strategic leadership from a company’s highest levels is critical in creating a corporate culture in which employee well-being is prioritized. Accordingly, this Proposal asks Walmart to report on governance measures adopted to address workplace health and safety.</p>
<p class=”p1″>1 https://www.ehstoday.com/safety/article/2 l l 74310/workplace-safety-and-productivity-go-hand-in-hand; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0925753523003l 68</p>
<p class=”p2″>2 https://ohsonline.com/articles/2023/ I 0/27/protect-workers-and-company-reputation-with-a-culture-of-safety.aspx; https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5447402/</p>
<p class=”p4″>3 https://www.clearygottlieb.com/news-and-insights/publication-listing/fulfilling-the-boards-expanded-oversight role-in-human-capital-management</p>
<p class=”p5″>4 https://www.epi.org/blog/an-average-of-27-workers-a-day-suffer-amputation-or-hospitalization-according-to-new-osha-data-from-29-states-meat-and-poultry-companies-remain-among-the-most-dangerous/</p>
<p class=”p7″>5 https://webassets.oxfamamerica.org/media/documents/At_ Work_and_Under_Watch.pdf, at 16, 20, 23-24.</p>
<p class=”p8″>6 https://www.abetterbalance.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pointing-Out-Walmart-Report-FlNAL.pdf</p>
<p class=”p6″>7 https://newrepublic.corn/article/177515/death-walmart-workplace-safety-record .</p>
<p class=”p7″>8  https://www.hrgrapevine.com/us/content/article/2024-04-26-walmart-waffle-house-uber-blasted-for-unsafe-reckless-work-practices-in-dirty-dozen-report .</p>
<p class=”p9″>9 https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/ l l /22/chesapeake-virginia-walmart-shooting- authorities/10761233002/</p>

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<h3>Lead Filer</h3>
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<div class=”views-field views-field-nothing”><span class=”field-content”> Hana Ivanhoe</span></div><div class=”views-field views-field-title views-field-field-shareholder”><span class=”field-content”>Oxfam America</span></div>
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<h3>Co-filer</h3>
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<div class=”views-field views-field-nothing”><span class=”field-content”> Caroline Boden</span></div><div class=”views-field views-field-title views-field-field-shareholder”><span class=”field-content”>Bon Secours Mercy Health</span></div>
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<div class=”views-field views-field-nothing”><span class=”field-content”> Caroline Boden</span></div><div class=”views-field views-field-title views-field-field-shareholder”><span class=”field-content”>Congregation of St. Joseph, OH</span></div>
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<div class=”views-field views-field-nothing”><span class=”field-content”> Caroline Boden</span></div><div class=”views-field views-field-title views-field-field-shareholder”><span class=”field-content”>Mercy Investment Services</span></div>
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<div class=”views-field views-field-nothing”><span class=”field-content”> Sr. Susan Mika</span></div><div class=”views-field views-field-title views-field-field-shareholder”><span class=”field-content”>Benedictine Sisters, San Antonio TX</span></div>
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<div class=”views-field views-field-nothing”><span class=”field-content”> Timnit Ghermay</span></div><div class=”views-field views-field-title views-field-field-shareholder”><span class=”field-content”>Providence St. Joseph Health</span></div>
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<div class=”views-field views-field-nothing”><span class=”field-content”> Timnit Ghermay</span></div><div class=”views-field views-field-title views-field-field-shareholder”><span class=”field-content”>Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, US Ontario Province</span></div>
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