Quit job for unfair scheduling

This one, fortunately, is not about me or my job. Unfortunately, it is a problem dealing with a Wal Mart.

If it matters, this occurred in Texas.

My mother worked at a local Wal Mart. She had been there for, if I remember correctly, 7 years...give or take a year.

Over the last few months, many things have happened. My sister had another baby...number 4. My mom took a leave from work to help my sister out. Just after the baby was born, my grandmother, her mom, who was already deteriorating, health wise, took a turn for the worse and was put into a Nursing Home.

My mom was on her leave for approximately 3 weeks, if memory serves. It could have been longer.

At my mom's job, she was used to being scheduled at least once a week on the closing shift, which ends at 9:00pm.

When she returned to work, she found she was scheduled to close every day. She brought it up to one of the supervisors, and mentioned she had to be available to help with her mother, so closing everyday was not going to work.

The supervisor that made the schedule was not available, so she went to the store Manager, who has an open door policy.

Things deteriorated from there. The supervisor that made the schedule became very hostile, and, as my mother informed me, started yelling at her for going over her head.

My mom was told the schedule would only be for two weeks, but my mom saw the schedule and noticed she was scheduled to close until the end of July.

Sounds to me a lot like a retaliation issue.

No one was willing to work on the schedule with my mom, including the store Manager. She decided to quit.

My mom does have copies of her schedules before the leave, and copies of the schedule for her to close every day.

I told her she needs to contact a lawyer, and we happen to have a family friend who is a lawyer.

Is there grounds for any action for an issue of retaliation, or would that be next to impossible to prove?

I know most of the labor abuse stories surrounding Wal Mart, and others that deal with other negative issues about Wal Mart, but we'd like to know, if she has a leg to stand on.

I think she'll have difficulty proving retaliation, regardless of who the employer is. Any employer can simply fill or set up a particular employee schedule well within legal guidelines and the same can be argued here. I dont know how she can conclusively prove retaliation when the employer can simply state they had to reorganize based on her absences. She still had a position upon her return. She didn't suffer a cut in pay, according to your post, she wasn't "demoted" .. the only difference was simply a reschedule of hours worked. It may be well exactly for the reasons you've posted; I just don't see sufficient evidence that can be conclusively documented here to succeed in litigation. (This is of course only an opinion.)
It's still probably worth your mother's time to consult with an employment attorney in your area..there may be more details to the story that you've presented here, possibly more documented examples where the same practice has been applied to other employees in the same situation, etc.
At any rate, it certainly couldn't hurt, particularly when it involves such a large corporation.

As I was typing that out, I had a feeling it would be very difficult to prove. Not to mention, as I was told, none of her coworkers said anything on her behalf.

I don't know if she will speak with an attorney, but that ball is in her court.

Thanks for the info. I'll pass it on, for what it's worth.

You're welcome. I understand it's "not right" and certainly "not fair." Major corporations are very adroit and in 9.99 out of 10 cases, well within legal guidelines in their employment practices. They have to be in this day and age .. but personally, I just wish a few would work on their "technique."