Wisconsin Jury: Walmart Must Pay $125M in Down Syndrome Discrimination Case

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A Wisconsin jury said Walmart must pay more than $125 million after finding against the company in a federal disability discrimination lawsuit.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) said the eight-member jury in Green Bay returned a verdict of in favor of EEOC on the three claims of disability discrimination against Walmart. The company was ordered to pay $125,150,000.

The EEOC said the jury found that the retailer failed to accommodate Marlo Spaeth, a longtime employee with Down syndrome, and then fired her in July 2015 because of her disability.

The EEOC presented evidence that a change Walmart made to Spaeth’s longstanding work schedule caused her significant difficulty. When she requested her start and end times be adjusted by 60 to 90 minutes and to be returned to her prior schedule, Walmart failed to act on the request and instead fired her.

Spaeth had worked for the company for approximately 16 years and had consistently received positive performance evaluations from her managers, according to evidence presented at trial. The jury also found that Walmart turned down Spaeth’s later request to be rehired because of her disability or because of their need to accommodate her disability.

Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits discrimination based on an employee’s disability. The EEOC filed its lawsuit (EEOC v. Walmart Stores East LP, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Case No. 17-cv-70) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its voluntary conciliation process.

The jury awarded Spaeth $150,000 in compensatory damages and $125,000,000 in punitive damages after deliberating for three hours following the four-day trial.

The case was tried by Trial Attorneys Leslie Carter and Carrie Vance, along with Supervisory Trial Attorney Justin Mulaire. Lectric Chandler provided paralegal support at trial.

Source: EEOC

Topics Wisconsin

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