Lowe's

This is the letter I wrote to Marvin and the corporate office that has been ignored for almost 2 years.

Dear Marvin,

My name is Tara, I'm a pro sales specialist at your Carbondale Lowe's #0493. I'm a single mom of 2 beautiful girls. I also happened to have a couple of health conditions that cause me to have disabilities. This has never been a huge problem for me until recently. The past few years have become unbearable. First I was groped/harassed by a delivery driver in 2017-18 and nothing was done for months. They even told him i filed the complaint. They allowed him to walk around the store intimidating me and making me feel uncomfortable.. After he was terminated he was still allowed to shop in the store and would constantly check out at the pro desk where I worked. Making this complaint I feel placed some type of target on my back. After this incident occurred I started to get harassed regarding my health. In December of 2019 my medical restrictions were ignored and I was hurt at work pushing a panel cart of storm doors. ( Come to find out I have a labral tear in my hip from it) I told them all as soon as it happened that I was hurt. I was crying and embarrassed. I had x-rays with my doctor the following day. The management was informed and no one reported it or did anything about it. Then i started getting harassed for using the heater that I was given by the store. Part of my accommodation is the heater because I have a problem regulating my body temperature and its Very painful in the Winter. I didn't understand why I was being questioned when all the other departments in the entire store all had the same heater. I was then informed that I would need to provide medical documentation proving that I needed the heater. This is the only way that I would be allowed to have it at my work station. They actually took the heater away and locked it in a room away from me. And I am the only one in the entire store, who is required to have medical documentation for my heater. I was then told my heater caused the cash registers at the pro desk to blow the breakers.. After providing documentation for this heater for a year it was then taken away from me.. I was then told I was not allowed to even plug it in and I could then walk across the frozen parking lot to my car and warm up in there. (Pictures) Although coworkers could come up to my work station and plug it in and never got in trouble. I did this for quite a while. Almost falling on the ice in the parking lot often. Employee parking is quite far from the building. Not to mention having to spend 15 minutes warming up my car so that I could get warm again. For some reason they thought this was better than me having a heater at my work station. I then found out that our regional regional HR William Greg Crain, had written a letter to Sedgwick telling them that my heater was a fire hazard because it was next to the roll up door in lumber. I have pictures of the 3 heaters from our receiving department and the 5 roll up doors that they have back there. Except for except for some reason that's not a fire hazard. All of the manager's offices also contained a heater. The management in this store has been allowed to make me feel so ashamed and embarrassed over something I can't control.. I've always been a good employee and I've never had any problems. I have tons of customer compliments and compliments and all of my pro customers love me. Then in February 2021 I was written up for using my existing (since 2017)Ada accommodations for insubordination because I couldn't walk very well. The operations manager Jeremy yelled at me until I cried on the sales floor.. This incident occurred because I couldn't walk very well because of the injury I sustained a few weeks prior.. Also I had just explained how I was going to get trigger point injections in my back and in my hip joint. I had already been off for 2 days on intermittent F MLA leave.Because I had been getting harassed for using my accommodations or sitting down when I couldn't walk, I had to start taking full intermittent days off it's off so I didn't get in trouble. The manager who wrote a statement against me called me by my 1st and middle name.. This is not what I'm called at work but my name on Facebook. This made me incredibly uncomfortable. While all of this is going on, I'm contacting associate relations relations regarding being harassed.. I then find out I have 2 investigations against me.. Out of the blue for weird reasons and I inform them that I feel like I'm being singled out and attacked out and harassed and retaliated against. I was informed that 1 investigation was about me being mean to an employee that had quit a couple months prior.. I was then also informed of an investigation that I had an inappropriate relationship with my boss as well. It's funny how these 2 investigations happened immediately following these complaints i made. Well there is so much more than what I have included in this letter, I've documented and taken 30+

pictures, and date documented every incident, of every single thing that has happened for 4 years. I've contacted the Illinois department of human rights who has helped me. They said Lowe's asked what solution or resolution I was seeking. I told them that they need to retrain all of their staff. I also told them that I think I should get paid for the time that I've been off off, since it was by no choice of my own. If I was allowed to use my accommodations when I need them I would have been able to be at work and productive.. Unfortunately the management in that store but in that store wanted me to ask permission to use my accommodations each in every time. I know the store manager, the operations manager, and the district manager are either no longer employed or have been re assigned. Lowe's then advised they would not pay me anything. I helped bring their pro desk out of a 3 million dollar deficit. I don't think its too much at all, asking for what I would have made had I been working. Especially after the torture that they had put me through.I'm currently being terminated because I'm on unapproved leave of absence. For some reason Lowe's and Sedgwick decided that even though I have a hip brace, cane, and that I can't walk very well/fall frequently, I don't need accommodations and I didn't need my short term disability they denied. My doctor has grown so tired of filling out the same paperwork and telling them the same information over and over. This goes back to paperwork with the Reed group as well. The Illinois department of human rights will be transferring this over to the EEOC. I'm also now going to be contacting the labor board. Being the sole provider for my children and the management in the store knowing this, exploited it. They harassed me and treated me anyway they could because I couldn't quit. They took advantage of this situation and no one stopped them. Now they just want me to shut up and go away. Nope. I'm going to post this letter on Twitter and Facebook and everywhere else that it will let me. I think it's absolutely disgusting that Lowe's corporate, Knowingly and willfully allowed the store to do this.. Had my restrictions been followed, I would not have been hurt, therefore I would not have had to take leave of absence. All because I don't LOOK like I have chronic illnesses, or autoimmune diseases, or disabilities, does not give anyone the right to treat me this way. Or create a completely toxic and abusive work environment. Not that I think it matters to any of you. I'm sure I won't get a response and I'll get ignored or maybe I'll get harassed even more.

Sincerely,

Tara Lazzara