Former Walmart Manager Claims He Was Fired After Leaving Shift Early to Be With His Dying Grandmother

Vaughn Sawyer III, 29, a Walmart team leader in Auburn, Maine, says he was fired the day after leaving work on 19 September to be with his dying grandmother. Sawyer says he had informed his supervisor that he needed to leave after being told his grandmother had only hours to live and planned to return to complete bereavement paperwork.

According to Sawyer's account, he returned to the store later that evening but could not find a supervisor to help with the paperwork.

His grandmother, Jacqueline Sawyer, died the following morning. Sawyer says he returned to Walmart on Sunday to return his keys and was unexpectedly told he was being terminated.

The claims about Sawyer's termination and the circumstances surrounding his departure from work are based primarily on his account and statements from his aunt. Walmart has confirmed it was aware of the matter but declined to comment on the personnel issue.

Bereavement Leave Context and Maine Employment Law

Sawyer, a single father of two, had worked at the Auburn store for roughly two years and supervised a team of around 15 staff, according to his account. He said his attendance 'points' were accumulating because he had previously left early to care for his children, though he added he had never been formally confronted about the issue.

Maine's earned paid leave law allows eligible workers to use accrued leave for any reason, including emergencies or sudden necessities, although it does not establish a separate statewide bereavement-leave entitlement.

Whether the law applied to Sawyer's circumstances would depend on factors including his accrued leave and the circumstances surrounding his absence.

For context, Sawyer's aunt, Lisa Sawyer, said the family does not plan to take legal action but wants Walmart to conduct an internal investigation and 'do the right thing.'

'We get really busy in life chasing the almighty dollar and family is important, and when somebody who has been with you your whole life is in her final moments, I don't care what policy there is out there, there should be an exception,' Lisa Sawyer told local reporters.

Photograph Found in Bin Sparks Online Reaction

What intensified the fallout was a photograph. Shortly after his dismissal, Sawyer received a message from a former team member showing a picture of him that had hung in the manager's office, now in a bin with a hole through the forehead area, according to Sawyer.

'That solidified how they really felt about me in there,' he said. He added that the hole did not remove anything clearly identifying, and he could not say whether it was deliberate or a joke.

Lisa Sawyer's Facebook post detailing her nephew's firing went viral, attracting more than 10,000 likes and 2,500 shares by Monday, she said. The story spread quickly across social platforms, with many users condemning the decision as heartless and others arguing that attendance rules must be applied consistently.

Sawyer said he would consider returning to work if offered his job back. In the meantime, he is job hunting while grieving a grandmother he described as the 'peak of stability and security.'

Sawyer and his brother lived on the first floor of a duplex, while their grandmother lived above them, according to local reporting.

Jacqueline Sawyer was remembered in her obituary as a 'strong and courageous woman' who 'loved her family.' The obituary described her as 'the very definition of a classy lady, with just the right touch of sass' who 'simply did not leave the house without putting on her lipstick.'