Walmart Agrees to Pay $75,000 in EEOC Disability Discrimination Suit

RALEIGH, N.C. - Wal-Mart Stores East, LP will pay $75,000 and furnish other relief to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

According to the lawsuit, an employee working for a Walmart's distribution center in Fayetteville, North Carolina, experienced the onset of severe pain due to a neurological disability affecting her right hand and wrist. The employee applied for intermittent leave as a reasonable accommodation but the accommodation was denied. Walmart told the employee she could not return to work unless she provided a full medical release saying she could work without restrictions. Frustrated by Walmart's continued refusal to allow her to return to work, the employee made an internal complaint to the company's Global Ethics Office. Walmart fired her nine days later.

Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which protects individuals with disabilities from workplace discrimination and prohibits companies from requiring that employees with disabilities have no medical restrictions before returning to work and from retaliating against employees who complain about discrimination. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Wal-Mart Stores East, LP, Case No.: 5:22-CV-00252-FL) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its voluntary conciliation process.

In addition to paying monetary damages to the affected employee, the two-year decree prohibits Walmart from requiring employees to be "100% healed" or "fully recovered" before returning to work and requires Walmart to consider transfers from the distribution center to a retail store as a potential reasonable accommodation. Walmart will also be required to conduct annual trainings, post a notice of employee rights, and submit periodic compliance reports to the EEOC.

EEOC Charlotte District Regional Attorney Melinda C. Dugas said, "Employer policies requiring employees to show that they are 100% healed, or can otherwise work without restriction, before returning from medical leave violate public policy and run afoul of the ADA. Further, the statute prohibits employers from retaliating against employees for seeking a reasonable accommodation. Such conduct has a chilling effect on the willingness of other employees to report unlawful conduct."

Samuel Williams, a trial attorney in the EEOC's Raleigh office, said, "Individuals with disabilities have a right to work and the EEOC will aggressively pursue all appropriate avenues of relief for victims of discrimination."

In fiscal year 2023, the EEOC received more than 29,000 charges of disability discrimination. For more information on disability discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/disability-discrimination.

The EEOC's Charlotte District Office has jurisdiction over North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.

The EEOC prevents and remedies unlawful employment discrimination and advances equal opportunity for all. More information is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.

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