Marlo Spaeth began working at Walmart in 1999 in the city of Manitowoc, Wisconsin. For over 15 years, he has performed public service, product replacement and cleaning, always with very positive evaluations. However, everything changed in 2014 with the introduction of an automatic shift system, which radically changed its usual time and later made it failed. However, the court gave him reason and ordered the company to pay a millionaire compensation.
Although discharges can be classified as justified, unjustified or null, when proving that they are based on discrimination, the legal consequences for the company may be serious. This is what happened in the United States, where the Walmart supermarket chain was ordered to pay 110 million euros to an employee with Down syndrome, after a court considered that the dismissal resulted from the company’s refusal to adapt working hours to the collaborator’s needs.
Time change without adaptation to the needs of the employee
Until then, Marlo worked between 12h00 and 16h00. With the new organization, he began to fulfill the time from 1 pm to 5:30 pm, which deeply disturbed his routine. According to family and lawyers, this change has caused him great anxiety, fear of losing his return transportation and difficulties of adaptation. Several attempts were made to restore the previous but unsuccessful time.
Although the store has more than 300 employees and is open 24 hours a day, the company refused the order, says.
Marlo’s constant absences and delays
Shortly thereafter, Marlo began to accumulate fouls and delays, a direct consequence of the new routine, and was eventually farewell by “excessive absenteeism” on July 10, 2015. According to witnesses, the employee left the store accompanied by a colleague, both in tears and without realizing the reason for the dismissal.
Request for reintegration was also refused
Even after being dismissed, Spaeth kept hope and asked to be readmitted, maintaining the time she had always fulfilled. The company refused, although the letter of dismissal mention the possibility of rehirement. This behavior was one of the factors that contributed to the court’s decision.
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Court considers that there was discrimination
The case went to the courts and, after four days of trial at the Wisconsin District Court, the jury raised after just three hours. It was concluded that Walmart violated the law of Americans with disabilities (ADA) by not offering a reasonable adaptation that, according to the judges, would not represent any difficulty for the company.
Refusal to refusal Spaeth was also considered motivated by his disability, which may have made compensation higher.
Millionaire compensation
As a result, compensation of 110 million euros for punitive damages was determined, plus $ 150,000 for compensatory damages. However, US Federal Law sets a maximum limit of $ 300,000 for such compensation, which will be actually paid to the employee.
“Clear warning against unnecessary inflexibility”
The Commission for Equal Opportunities in Employment (EEOC), which represented Spaeth in the process, classified the verdict as a clear sign against the unjustified rigidity of large companies. “The jury was clearly outraged by the treatment given to the complainant,” said Gregory Gochanour, an EEOC lawyer.
Walmart disputes decision and promises to appeal
In response to the sentence, Walmart expressed his displeasure with the outcome of the trial. The company stated that “it does not tolerate any form of discrimination” and explained that shifts are changed according to the needs of the service and employees, denying that the dismissal has had discriminatory motivations.
Still, the supermarket chain considers the requirements of EEOC “irrational” and has already announced the intention to appeal the court decision.
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