CNN reports that Wal-Mart has agreed to write a check for $300,000 to settle a lawsuit in which it was charged that the company illegally discriminated against a job applicant in its Richmond, Missouri, store because he had cerebral palsy. The company also agreed to provide Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) training “to managers at its Richmond store; notify job applicants about the settlement; and inform several Kansas City-area job service agencies that the company seeks to employ qualified persons with disabilities, according to the CNN story.
The case dates back to 2001, when Steven J. Bradley reportedly applied to work at a local Wal-Mart after seeing commercials in which the company was shown using disabled employees. Bradley applied for “any available position,” but was told that because of his wheelchair, he’d be best suited to be a greeter, and then was not hired.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed the suit on Bradley’s behalf in 2004; Wal-Mart got a summary judgment in its favor in 2005. But in 2007, an appeals court overturned that ruling and the lawsuit was scheduled to go to trial.
This is at least the second go-round between Wal-Mart and the EEOC, according to CNN, which reports that “in December 2001, the EEOC and Wal-Mart agreed to a $6.8 million national settlement of a discrimination suit. In that case, the agency accused Wal-Mart of using a pre-employment questionnaire that violated the ADA between Jan. 1, 1994, and Dec. 31, 1998.”
The case dates back to 2001, when Steven J. Bradley reportedly applied to work at a local Wal-Mart after seeing commercials in which the company was shown using disabled employees. Bradley applied for “any available position,” but was told that because of his wheelchair, he’d be best suited to be a greeter, and then was not hired.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed the suit on Bradley’s behalf in 2004; Wal-Mart got a summary judgment in its favor in 2005. But in 2007, an appeals court overturned that ruling and the lawsuit was scheduled to go to trial.
This is at least the second go-round between Wal-Mart and the EEOC, according to CNN, which reports that “in December 2001, the EEOC and Wal-Mart agreed to a $6.8 million national settlement of a discrimination suit. In that case, the agency accused Wal-Mart of using a pre-employment questionnaire that violated the ADA between Jan. 1, 1994, and Dec. 31, 1998.”
- KC's View:
- I’m assuming that someone down in Bentonville has sent out a memo saying that if this sort of lawsuit happens a third time, it will mean somebody’s head on a pike.
