Wal-Mart settles with former employee over disability discrimination lawsuit

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will pay a former employee $75,000 to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced this week.

The retail giant allegedly violated federal discrimination law by not accommodating Nancy Stack, a cancer survivor with physical limitations. The suit also states Stack was harassed because of her disability at the Hodgkins, Ill., store where she worked.

The suit states that Stack required a chair and modified schedule and while the retailer did modify the schedule for a period, it was revoked for no stated reason. The EEOC also claimed that Stack was harassed by a co-worker and the retailer did not stop it.

EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division on behalf of Stack. Wal-Mart agreed to a settlement decree which was signed by U.S. District Judge Sharon Coleman earlier this month. Stack will receive a cash payment of $75,000 and over the next two years the store where Stack worked will undergo training on disability discrimination.

“Wal-Mart refused to provide simple, effective and inexpensive accommodations in the form of a chair and modified schedule and failed to protect Stack from mocking because she had cancer,” said John Hendrickson, regional attorney of EEOC’s Chicago District Office. “Both the failure to provide accommodations and to stop the harassment violated federal law, and we are pleased with the settlement.”