A federal jury awarded a former Walmart employee in Wisconsin who has Down syndrome $125 million after determining that the superstore intentionally altered her schedule to make it more difficult for her to get to work on time as a pretext to fire her, the Kansas City Star reports.
Marlo Spaeth had worked at the store for 16 years when managers started to randomly alter her schedule. Spaeth’s condition makes having a regular schedule necessary to maintain her job and independence, so the disruption in her long-standing routine led to her being late for work. Spaeth repeatedly requested an 60 to 90 minute adjustment to her schedule, but the store management would not comply with the request.
An eight person jury found Walmart did not make sufficient efforts to accommodate Spaeth’s disability under federal law, and it determined to award Spaeth $125 million. However, federal law caps lawsuit awards at $300,000 for companies that employ at least 500 people, meaning Spaeth will receive less than one-quarter of one percent of the judgement.
Walmart denies any wrongdoing and said that the issue would have been dealt with internally.
“We often adjust associate schedules to meet our customers’ expectations and while Ms. Spaeth’s schedule was adjusted, it remained within the times she indicated she was available,” a spokesman told a local Wisconsin newspaper. “We’re sensitive to this situation and believe we could have resolved this issue with Ms. Spaeth, however the EEOC’s demands were unreasonable.”