Wal-Mart Stores East LP, a subsidiary of Walmart Inc. of Bentonville, has agreed to pay $175,000 and furnish other relief to settle disability discrimination lawsuits brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against three Walmart stores in North Carolina.
The lawsuits were filed against stores in Statesville, Henderson and Raleigh over the stores’ alleged practice of failing to provide intermittent leave as a reasonable accommodation, the EEOC said in a news release.
At one store, on several occasions from November 2016 through April 2017, Walmart allegedly refused to provide reasonable accommodations to a deli employee suffering from symptoms related to a gastrointestinal impairment. The employee requested intermittent or excused leave for disability-related absences. Although Walmart excused some disability-related absences, it did not excuse others, including several for disability-related medical appointments and hospitalization, the EEOC said. The employee, who had worked for Walmart since February 2014, was fired in April 2017 for violating the company attendance policy even though she had provided doctor’s notes.
Walmart agreed to pay $85,000 to the affected employee and provide other relief to resolve the lawsuit.
At another store, Walmart was accused of refusing to accommodate a shelf stocker’s disability by failing to excuse absences related to her epileptic seizures. Although the supervisor allegedly said she would excuse seizure-related absences if she was notified that the absence was related to the employee’s seizure disorder, Walmart did not excuse the absences, and, as a result, the employee was fired for violating the company attendance policy.
Walmart agreed to pay $50,000 to the affected employee and provide other relief to resolve the lawsuit.
A third Walmart store allegedly refused to provide a reasonable accommodation to a general merchandise support manager with generalized convulsive epilepsy. The manager began experiencing seizures requiring medical treatment, which caused him to be late for his shift and occasionally to miss work. In July 2017, the manager requested intermittent leave as a reasonable accommodation. Walmart allegedly denied the manager’s request, demoted him to a deli position and later fired him for violating the company’s attendance policy.
Walmart agreed to pay $40,000 to the affected employee and provide other relief to resolve the lawsuit.
In addition to the monetary relief provided for each of the affected employees, the resolutions prohibit Walmart from failing to offer intermittent leave as a reasonable accommodation under the Americans With Disabilities Act. The stores will be required to conduct annual trainings, post a notice of employee rights and submit compliance reports to the EEOC.
Walmart has issued a standard response when asked for comment on similar lawsuits, saying, “We have been a top employer for those with disabilities for years. We don’t tolerate discrimination of any kind and take allegations like this seriously.”
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