Exterior view of a Walmart store on August 23, 2020 in North Bergen, New Jersey. Walmart saw its profits increase in the last quarter as e-commerce sales increased during the coronavirus pandemic.
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A jury found that Walmart broke the law when he fired a longtime employee with Down syndrome. Now, the U.S. Commission on Equal Employment wants the judge to warn the country’s largest private employer to prevent this from happening again.
In a motion filed Friday, the federal agency said Walmart should be under closer oversight for the next five years and should make it clear in company policies that employees with disabilities are entitled to accommodations. reasonable.
In addition, the OEOC said, Walmart should be required to post a poster about the lawsuit and its shares in more than 100 stores. A draft of the note, which the EEOC made and shared with the judge, explains why the company was wrong to fire Marlo Spaeth, an employee with a long tradition, and uses it as a cautionary tale about the consequences of violating the American Disability Act.
The federal agency is calling for the note to be released for five years in the region where Walmart violated the ADA.
Ultimately, a judge will decide whether or not to grant precautionary measures.
Walmart is reviewing the filing, company spokesman Randy Hargrove said.
In a previous statement, he said Walmart leaders and executives “take support seriously from all of our associates and, for people with disabilities, we house thousands of people every year.”
Marlo Spaeth (left) was fired from Walmart in July 2015, after working there for nearly 16 years. His sister, Amy Jo Stevenson, has been in a legal battle with the retail giant ever since. He filed a complaint of discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Amy Jo Stevenson
The EEOC and Walmart have been locked in a legal battle for years over Spaeth’s shootings. Spaeth, who has Down Syndrome, worked for nearly 16 years as a sales associate at a Walmart Supercenter in Manitowoc, a small town in eastern Wisconsin on the shores of Lake Michigan. She was fired from her job after the store began using a new computerized programming system, which changed her hours. Managers refused to re-establish Spaeth’s long working hours.
In July, Walmart lost the lawsuit and the jury ordered a verdict of more than $ 125 million, one of the highest in the history of the federal agency for a single victim. The judge reduced the damages to $ 300,000, the maximum allowed by law.
In Friday’s motion, the EEOC said Walmart would have to pay nearly $ 187,000 above that damage to make up for Spaeth’s years of lost wages. He asked the judge to demand that Walmart reinstate Spaeth as an employee or pay the equivalent of ten years’ salary in lieu of his reinstatement.
However, the federal agency also argued that the monetary damage is not enough. He demanded stricter oversight of Walmart and posters posted in the region where Spaeth’s store is located. According to one EEOC statement, the region includes more than a hundred stores, but did not say which states and cities it covers beyond that portion of Wisconsin.
In this region, he said Walmart should require ADA training for all managers and supervisors and incorporate adherence to these policies into annual performance reviews. He also said Walmart should be required to notify the EEOC within 90 days of any request for accommodation for an employee’s disability and to share details about that request, including the name and the contact information of the person as well as their response.
The EEOC’s motion echoes the wishes of Spaeth’s sister, Amy Jo Stevenson.
In an interview with CNBC in July, he said his sister was devastated when she lost her job. Stevenson said he wants all Walmart employees and executives to know what happened to his sister and understand her rights and requirements under the ADA.
“I imagine a note from Marlo Spaeth hanging on every Walmart that says,‘ You can’t do this, ’” Stevenson said.