Wal-Mart Hit with Employment Raps Twice this Month

Legal woes seem to be no longer new to Wal-Mart. Through the years, the retailer giant has always been the target of many different legal raps raised by its former and current employees, not the mention the other legal issues thrown against the company.

Incidentally, this month alone, Wal-Mart was hit with two employment discrimination lawsuit.

Earlier of this month, Wal-Mart was sued the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on behalf of the retailer giant’s Keller, Texas’ store manager, David Mooreman, 56, who was allegedly subjected to harassment and unequal treatment due to his age until he was eventually discharged for his old age.

Mooreman has claimed he was often ridiculed with frequent taunts by his supervisor about his age. He allegedly reported the matter to the store’s human resources department but the latter failed to take any corrective action. Thus, the taunting against him continued until he was eventually fired by the store.

The said lawsuit also alleged that the store unlawfully refused Moore’s request for a reasonable accommodation for his disability. Moore is diabetic and requested for a reassignment but the store rejected his request.

Meanwhile, in another lawsuit filed against a Cockeysville, Maryland Wal-mart store, the EEOC on behalf of an applicant who claims that the retailer giant violated a federal law when it refused to hire an individual with renal disease as a store associate.

According to the lawsuit, the store failed to provide a reasonable accommodation to Laura Jones, when it refused her request for an alternative drug test. Jones has end-stage renal disease, making it impossible for her to produce urine for the urinalysis test that the store required.

Instead of providing her an alternative drug test, the store told her that she can’t be hired if she did not pass the urinalysis test.

Obviously, such misconducts clearly exhibit disability discrimination. As always, the EEOC once again reminds everyone through its recent press release that under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), employers are required to provide reasonable accommodation to applicants and employees with disability, as long as the accommodation does not impose undue hardship on the part of the employer.

As for Wal-Mart, amidst the pour of legal issues, at least it had made one good move when it opted to settle its previous sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit late this month – one business-wise decision for Wal-Mart.