Walmart's firing of pregnant worker suggests widespread bias, complaint says
Adds Walmart statement in paragraphs 5-6
By Daniel Wiessner
Oct 1 (Reuters) -Walmart was accused on Tuesday of firing an employee at an Ohio store because she was pregnant, which a nonprofit group said is likely part of a broader pattern of discrimination by the largest private U.S. employer.
The National Women's Law Center filed complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and its state-level counterpart in Ohio on behalf of Corrissa Hernandez, who said she was fired earlier this year after requesting a part-time schedule and permission to sit while working as a cashier.
The NWLC said at least one other pregnant employee at the Oberlin, Ohio, store where Hernandez worked faced similar treatment, and urged the EEOC to investigate Walmart's practices across the country.
"We, and our client, are concerned that in addition to other pregnant employees at the Oberlin store, workers at the many other Walmart stores nationwide may also be experiencing or be vulnerable to discrimination," the NWLC said.
Bentonville, Arkansas-based Walmart in a statement provided by a spokesperson said it was reviewing the complaint.
"We don’t tolerate discrimination of any kind and provide reasonable accommodations to thousands of associates," the company said.
Hernandez in the complaint said she learned she was pregnant after being hired by Walmart in March. A month earlier, she had miscarried while working in a job that required her to lift and turn patients in hospital beds, according to the complaint.
Hernandez said she requested accommodations from the store's lead cashier in April, and shortly after was told by a manager that she was being fired because upper management was concerned that she would call out or leave work early.
Walmart previously excluded pregnancy from a list of medical conditions for which it provided accommodations, but has said in court filings in other cases that it changed that policy in 2017 in response to complaints and an EEOC probe.
The commission in a 2018 lawsuit accused Walmart of discriminating against pregnant workers at a Wisconsin warehouse by denying their requests for restrictions on lifting and other physical tasks. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2022 upheld a judge's dismissal of that case, saying Walmart's accommodation policy was valid because it applied equally to all workers.
Walmart in 2020 had paid $14 million to settle a proposed class action claiming it had routinely denied "light duty" assignments to pregnant workers while granting them to injured and disabled workers. The company denied wrongdoing.
A 2023 federal law, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, requires most employers to provide accommodations for pregnancy. Previously, employers only had to grant accommodations to pregnant workers that were already given to employees with other medical conditions.
Hernandez's complaint accuses Walmart of violating the PWFA, the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and comparable Ohio laws.
Read more:
Walmart defeats U.S. agency's pregnancy discrimination lawsuit
Wal-Mart faces another pregnancy bias claim at EEOC
Walmart's $14 mln settlement of pregnancy bias claims approved by judge
New pregnancy bias law broadly protects workers, US agency says
Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York
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Penafian: Entiti XM Group menyediakan perkhidmatan pelaksanaan sahaja dan akses ke Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian, yang membolehkan sesorang melihat dan/atau menggunakan kandungan yang ada di dalam atau melalui laman web, tidak bertujuan untuk mengubah atau memperluas, juga tidak mengubah atau mengembangkannya. Akses dan penggunaan tersebut tertakluk kepada: (i) Terma dan Syarat; (ii) Amaran Risiko; dan Penafian Penuh. Oleh itu, kandungan sedemikian disediakan tidak lebih dari sekadar maklumat umum. Terutamanya, perlu diketahui bahawa kandungan Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian bukan permintaan, atau tawaran untuk melakukan transaksi dalam pasaran kewangan. Berdagang dalam mana-mana pasaran kewangan melibatkan tahap risiko yang besar terhadap modal anda.
Semua bahan yang diterbitkan di Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian kami bertujuan hanya untuk tujuan pendidikan/maklumat dan tidak mengandungi – dan tidak boleh dianggap mengandungi nasihat kewangan, cukai pelaburan atau dagangan dan cadangan, atau rekod harga dagangan kami, atau tawaran, atau permintaan untuk suatu transaksi dalam sebarang instrumen kewangan atau promosi kewangan yang tidak diminta kepada anda.
Sebarang kandungan pihak ketiga serta kandungan yang disediakan oleh XM, seperti pendapat, berita, penyelidikan, analisis, harga, maklumat lain atau pautan ke laman web pihak ketiga yang terdapat dalam laman web ini disediakan berdasarkan "seadanya" sebagai ulasan pasaran umum dan bukanlah nasihat pelaburan. Sesuai dengan apa-apa kandungan yang ditafsir sebagai penyelidikan pelaburan, anda mestilah ambil perhatian dan menerima bahawa kandungan tersebut tidak bertujuan dan tidak sediakan berdasarkan keperluan undang-undang yang direka untuk mempromosikan penyelidikan pelaburan bebas dan oleh itu, ia dianggap sebagai komunikasi pemasaran di bawah peraturan dan undang-undang yang berkaitan. SIla pastikan bahawa anda telah membaca dan memahami Notifikasi mengenai Penyelidikan Pelaburan Bukan Bebas dan Amaran Risiko mengenai maklumat di atas yang boleh diakses di sini.
