Legal Blog: EEOC lawsuit alleges disability discrimination against Wal-Mart

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed suit in U.S. District Court in Illinois for violating employment provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The suit was brought yesterday on behalf of Barbara Hacker, a Wal-Mart greeter who suffers from epilepsy. Click here for a copy of the complaint.

The EEOC is the federal enforcing agency for the employment provisions of the ADA, and this is NOT the Commission’s first run-in with Wal-Mart. In fact, Wal-Mart’s history with the EEOC is littered with lawsuits, settlements, and broken promises to eliminate barriers for applicants and employees with disabilities. A report by Human Rights Watch found that between 1992 (when the ADA went in to effect) and 2002, sixteen suits had been filed by the Commission against Wal-Mart for violating Title I of the ADA, the most filed against any single corporation. Several more cases have been filed since then, two of which were settled earlier this year. (For more info on these, click here and here.)

As for Barbara Hacker, she informed her supervisors when she was hired about her epilepsy. She asked for nothing more than the reasonable accommodation of being allowed to sit for a couple minutes in a quiet place while she recovered from seizures. For a time she was accommodated, but ultimately she was fired after having a seizure in a back room off the sales floor at the Rockford Wal-Mart. According to EEOC attorney Aaron Decamp:

[T]he lawsuit was filed after Hacker filed a complaint with the EEOC in late 2006, after she was fired. EEOC investigators determined the claim had merit, and attorneys tried to reach a settlement with Wal-Mart before the suit was filed.

It should be noted that being the top lawsuit target of the ADA enforcement agency is probably not a good thing. Resources do not allow the EEOC to prosecute every case, which is why the Commission uses “strategic and vigorous” litigation as an enforcement tool.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission files suit against Wal-Mart [Rockford Register Star]

ROCKFORD — The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued Wal-Mart in federal court on behalf of a Rockford woman who claims she was fired because she had epilepsy.

Barbara Hacker worked as a greeter at the Wal-Mart store on West Riverside Boulevard in early 2006, EEOC attorney Aaron Decamp said, and had told her supervisors when she was hired that she had epilepsy. Hacker, who is in her early 30s and has a young child, asked to be allowed to sit down for a few minutes in a quiet location when she had a seizure.

Decamp said Wal-Mart complied initially, but later stopped accommodating her request. She was fired after having a seizure while in a back room at the store.

“When Ms. Hacker ... has a seizure, she can’t remember what happens, she loses control of herself a little bit,” Decamp said. “She was swearing in the back room (during her seizure), and when she swore, Wal-Mart saw this as an opportunity to fire her.”

The lawsuit contends her firing is in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act, which states employers must provide “reasonable accommodation” to employees with disabilities.

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Daphne Moore said the company has “a long and recognized commitment to employing people with disabilities,” but said she couldn’t comment on the specifics of this case because she hadn’t seen the lawsuit.

Decamp said the lawsuit was filed after Hacker filed a complaint with the EEOC in late 2006, after she was fired. EEOC investigators determined the claim had merit, Decamp said, and attorneys tried to reach a settlement with Wal-Mart before the suit was filed today.

The complaint asks for Wal-Mart to pay back pay with interest plus unspecified amounts for other damages, including “emotional pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life and humiliation.”

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Rockford. It has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Philip Reinhard. No court dates have been set.

Posted by Corey Himrod on Wednesday, September 10, 2008