A stop-work order has been lifted at the Halifax Walmart store where a 19-year-old employee was found dead in a walk-in oven more than a week ago.
The order, which covered the bakery area of the Mumford Road Walmart and “a piece of equipment,” ended Monday evening.
“The stop work order was lifted when compliance was confirmed, allowing bakery operations to safely resume should Walmart decide to do so,” the province’s Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration said in a statement Tuesday.
A spokesperson with Walmart told Global News, however, the store remains closed until further notice. Employees who were scheduled for shifts will be paid, and “alternate work arrangements” will be considered if the closure extends for a “longer-than-anticipated period of time.”
The store has been closed since Oct. 19, when the discovery was made during store hours.
The victim has since been identified by the Maritime Sikh Society as Gursimran Kaur — a young woman who worked at the Walmart alongside her mother. According to the society, it was her mother who found Kaur in the bakery department.
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Both mother and daughter are a part of the Sikh community and had been working at the Walmart store about two years. The society said the pair moved to Canada about three years ago and are originally from India.
An online fundraiser that was set up by the Maritime Sikh Society to assist the family has raised about $190,000. Its original goal of $50,000 was reached within 10 hours.
Members of the society have also helped apply for an emergency visa to bring Kaur’s father to Canada.
Meanwhile, Walmart said it has been helping the family as well.
“We know this has been an incredibly difficult time for the associate’s family as they grieve,” wrote Walmart spokesperson Amanda Moss in an email Tuesday.
“We continue to be in direct contact with them and have provided financial assistance.”
Halifax Regional Police have called their investigation into Kaur’s death “complex” and say it is ongoing.
— with a file from The Canadian Press
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