Supporters raise nearly $30k for Walmart employee sacked for collecting empty bottles

A TROLLEY collector who was sacked for redeeming $2.80 worth of empty cans and bottles discarded by customers has been flooded with support on social media.

Thomas Smith, 52, a formerly

homeless ex-convict with a learning disability who earned $12.50 an hour collecting shopping trolleys left in the Walmart parking lot, was sacked for allegedly “stealing” company property.

Mr Smith claimed he was fired in early November for redeeming a total of $7.10 ($US5.10) worth of empty bottles and cans left in trolleys by customers.

Walmart told The Guardian it did not take issue with the $4.30 ($US3.10) worth of empty beer cans a customer left in the parking lot, but with $2.80 ($US2) worth of bottles and cans left in a trolley just inside the store’s entrance.

Those were Walmart property, according to the spokesman, and Mr Smith was guilty of “gross misconduct” by redeeming them for change.

Mr Smith told the paper he was called into a security office and interrogated by a manager and two security staff members.

“I didn’t know you couldn’t take empties left behind. They were garbage,” Mr Smithtold the Albany Times Union newspaper. “I didn’t even get a chance to explain myself. They told me to turn in my badge.”

The story of Mr Smith’s sacking from the East Greenbush, New York Walmart, on a day he had agreed to work three hours of overtime to help out the short-staffed store, generated outrage and a flood of support on social media.

“I did the right thing and stayed out of trouble. I worked hard and did a good job. I ended up getting a raw deal,” Mr Smith, who is on parole after serving a 15-year sentence for armed robbery, told the paper.

A GoFundMe page set up to raise moneyfor Mr Smith has raised nearly $27,915 ($US20,000) from nearly 900 donors. On Saturday, the petition’s creator, Dounya Hamdan, said she had spoken with Mr Smith last week.

“He is in high spirits and is very grateful that everyone is supporting him!” she wrote.

Mr Smith had worried he might not be able to buy Christmas presents for his two teenage children. Now he’s considering a lawsuit against the company.

“This is an injustice,” he said. “I was done dirty.”