The EEOC alleged this week that Walmart illegally fired a new employee because he failed a test administered at the end of his training program due to a disability.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the lawsuit on Monday, alleging that Walmart’s Pathways training program, created in 2015, included a test at the end called the Pathways Exit Assessment.
“By January 2017, Walmart required newly hired hourly employees at its supercenters and Neighborhood Market stores across the United States to complete the program,” the EEOC’s regional office said in a news release Wednesday.
“Walmart has fired employees with disabilities across the country, including two in Arkansas who failed three tests despite performing their jobs satisfactorily,” the agency said.
The EEOC said Walmart failed to provide reasonable accommodations to test takers that were unrelated to the employees’ job duties or performance.
In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, Fayetteville Division, the EEOC alleged that the Bentonville-based retailer’s conduct violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. Pre-litigation settlement attempts have failed, the agency said.
Glenda Scott, who is deaf, worked at a North Little Rock Supercenter, and Jacqueline Walker, whose child has been diagnosed with an intellectual and speech disability, worked at a Neighborhood Market in Fayetteville.
According to the lawsuit filed in court, Walmart “failed to conduct individualized assessments to determine whether candidates needed special accommodations during the testing process.”
The lawsuit, on behalf of Scott, Walker and an “unidentified class of disabled individuals,” seeks unpaid wages, compensatory and punitive damages, compensation for lost benefits, and an injunction against any discriminatory practices.
“Employees with disabilities face too many obstacles in life, but the workplace should not be one of them,” said Edmund Sims, acting district director of the EEOC’s Memphis District Office, which covers parts of Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi.
“Employees with disabilities who perform their jobs well should be celebrated, not fired,” Sims said.
Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove said the company has “long been a top employer for people with disabilities.”
“We created the Pathways program with the needs of all employees in mind, which included advising employees of accommodation options through up to seven audio and visual pop-up notifications as they undergo training and assessments,” he said.
Hargrove said the program was discontinued several years ago and the company intends to protect itself.
The case is Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Wal-Mart Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Arkansas LLC.