Workers’ Compensation for Department and Grocery Store Workers in Nashville

What types of jobs do department store and grocery store workers do in Nashville?

In the US, grocery store sales reached the $800 billion mark in 2022. There are nearly 40,000 grocery stores (including grocery warehouses) nationwide. While the number of department stores is declining due to more online purchases, there are still many thriving department stores across the country and in Nashville.

The main difference between department and grocery stores is that the turnover of goods at grocery stores is normally faster because many grocery store items are perishable and everyone needs to eat. Bigger stores obviously have more employees and more chains of command.

Every person who works at a Nashville department store or grocery store has the right to file a workers’ compensation claim if the store has at least five employees, the worker is an employee, and the worker was injured while working at their job.

According to Indeed, a job matching company, grocery store jobs include:

• Custodian. A custodian helps to keep the store clean and presentable. The job is a manual labor job that involves sweeping, mopping, cleaning spills, waxing floors, and washing windows.
• Shopping cart attendant. This person collects the carts that shoppers use to store their purchases and take their purchases to their cars.
• Cashier. A cashier scans the purchases to determine their price, handles coupons, and handles the cash or financial transactions on behalf of the shopper and the store.
• Food preparation. These Nashville grocery store workers prepare meals, ensure the food is fresh, and handle customer requests.
• Bagger. This person places the purchases into bags – usually according to certain standards so the bags aren’t too heavy and the items match in some way, such as putting all frozen items together.
• Floral assistant. Some grocery stores sell flowers and arrangements that are prepared by floral assistants. These workers may also handle the refrigeration of flowers and related items such as balloons.
• Store managers and assistant store managers. These people help with the daily store operations. Some managers are assigned to specific parts of the store such as the bakery of liquor sales.
• Stock clerk. This Nashville worker places the store inventory onto the shelves, helps with the unloading of the inventory, and organizes the stock room.
• Pharmacists. Many grocery stores now have pharmacists and pharmacy aides on staff.
• Butcher. These workers help cut and prepare the poultry and meat. They often use sharp tools to cut the chicken and meats.
• Delivery drivers. Many grocery stores prepare shopping bags that are delivered to consumers who order their list of items online. Delivery drivers may also include drivers who transport inventory from one store to another.

Other grocery store workers include inventory control specialists, loading dock workers, IT staff, human resources, seafood specialists, bakery specialists, customer service representatives, and security workers.

Many of the jobs that grocery workers perform, such as stocking goods, store management, and retail work are also performed at department stores. Department stores also have professional buyers who decide what store products to buy and display. Department stores also emphasize marketing somewhat more than grocery stores. Security guards are more likely to be employed at department stores than grocery stores.