An exterior view of a Walmart store on August 23, 2020 in North Bergen, New Jersey. Walmart saw its profits skyrocket in its most recent quarter as e-commerce sales surged during the coronavirus pandemic.
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A federal judge ordered Walmart immediately returned a woman with Down syndrome and reimbursed her more than $50,000 after she won a disability discrimination lawsuit related to her dismissal from a store in Wisconsin.
But the judge denied the request to force Walmart take other actions in the next five years about the way it treats the woman, Marlo Spaeth.
Walmart told CNBC on Wednesday that it would comply with the order to return Spaeth to her job.
But a spokesman said the company has yet to decide whether to appeal the judgment on the refund, along with $300,000 in punitive damages.
“We take supporting all of our associates very seriously and regularly assist thousands of people with disabilities each year,” Walmart said.
The judge’s order is the latest development in a battle that lasted more than five years in court between the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Walmart, the nation’s largest privately held company. The federal agency sued Walmart on behalf of Spaeth, after the retailer refused to address her disability and fired her after nearly 16 years at one of its Malls.
Judge denied additional steps
As part of the lawsuit, the EEOC asked Judge William Griesbach to order the big-box retailer to add training for regulators on the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The EEOC also wants Walmart to notify all employees of the jury verdict in Spaeth’s favor, their legal rights, and the ability to contact federal agencies to report violations.
The EEOC invoked similar discrimination lawsuits against Walmart, arguing that the company’s actions against Spaeth were part of a pattern.
Griesbach in a February 22 ruling denied the requests saying that most of the EEOC’s requests were “instructions that Walmart follow the law.”
“The critical ruling against Walmart and the publicity it generates serve as strong deterrents against any of the conduct in question in this case,” the judge wrote.
Griesbach also said it would “provide strong incentives for Walmart to ensure that requests for reasonable accommodation are satisfactorily resolved without the need for court oversight over the administration and enforcement of its policies.” Walmart policies and procedures.”
An EEOC attorney, Justin Mulaire, declined to say whether the agency would appeal Griesbach’s refusal to force Walmart to take the additional steps the agency wanted.
The ruling came about seven months after a Wisconsin federal The jury found that Walmart broke the law when it changed Spaeth’s hours and disapproved of her disability.
The jury awarded Spaeth more than $125 million in punitive damages discrimination lawsuit – one of the highest levels in federal agency history for a single victim.
But that award was immediately reduced by the judge to the statutory maximum of $300,000.
In recent weeks, the EEOC and Walmart have argued in court papers over how to calculate the amount of refund Spaeth should receive for complying with the judge’s order.
The two sides have yet to agree on how much Walmart must pay Spaeth to offset the tax liability she will incur from the amount she is due to receive.
‘Nothing is without pain’
For more than a decade, Spaeth has Store aisles are neat, fold towels and help customers at a Walmart in Manitowoc, a city on the shores of Lake Michigan. During that time, she regularly received rave reviews for her performance and recordings.
Her hours were altered in 2014 when the store started using a computerized scheduling system designed to match employee levels with customer traffic, court records show. .
Spaeth struggled to adjust to the new working hours and worried that she would miss her bus or dinner time. That leads to her sometimes leaving early and leaving late.
Spaeth and her sister, Amy Jo Stevenson, repeatedly asked to change her schedule.
But Walmart refused and eventually fired Spaeth.
Stevenson said in a CNBC interview in July that when her sister lost her job, she lost her sense of purpose. She won’t come to answer the phone or take pictures. She buried her head in her hands when a Walmart ad was shown on TV.
Stevenson said in the interview: “It was nothing short of traumatic. “It’s hard, it’s hard to watch.”
She filed a complaint with the EEOC, which later led to a lawsuit.
