EEOC Sues Wal-Mart for Disability Discrimination

April 10, 2023

On March 30, 2023, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a Title VII claim against Wal-Mart Stores East, LP. The complaint alleges that the store refused to excuse the employee’s disability-related leave or make reasonable accommodations, ultimately leading to the manager’s firing.  

In the complaint, the EEOC alleges that beginning in 2017, the manager began experiencing seizures requiring medical treatment. The treatments caused the manager to be late to shifts or miss work. For each late or missed shift, the manager informed Walmart that his absence resulted from his disability. In July 2017, the manager requested leave as a reasonable accommodation for his disability. Walmart refused the request and did not excuse the absences. In 2018, Walmart demoted the manager because of the disability-related absences and then fired him for violating the company’s absence policy.

The EEOC seeks monetary relief for the former employee, including back pay, and compensatory and punitive damages and injunctive relief against the company to end any ongoing discrimination and to prevent such unlawful conduct in the future. The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Wal-Mart Stores East, LP, Civil Action No.: 5:23-cv-00160).

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