Rouses Markets has been honored as Employer of the Year by the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Disability Affairs for actively recruiting, hiring and accommodating employees with disabilities. The grocery chain was recognized at the Governor’s Outstanding Leadership in Disabilities Awards ceremony in November at the Old State Capitol in Baton Rouge.
Scott A Ledet, who works as a service clerk at the Rouses Market on Audubon Street in Thibodaux, and Alexander J. Tindle, a service clerk at Rouses Market in Denham Springs, joined Steve Galtier, Rouses’ director of human resources, and Ali Rouse Royster, a third-generation managing partner, on stage to accept the award.
HR Director Galtier and his department work directly with Rouses’ store directors to hire and train special needs team members.
“We have more than 50 special needs team members with special jobs,” says Royster. “Providing job opportunities to people with disabilities is one of Rouses’ core values, and is especially important to my family and me.”
Royster’s brother, Matthew, was born with methylmalonic acidemia and homocystinuria, cblC type, a rare genetic disorder.
The company’s dedication to hiring employees with disabilities started long before Matthew was born.
“We have team members with special needs who have been with our company for more than 30 years,” says Royster. “They’re as committed to working for us as we are to working with them.”
Rouses operates nearly four-dozen stores in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The company employs more than 6,200 team members.
