EEOC Sues Wal-Mart for Disability Discrimination

Author: EEOC
Published: 2015/07/04 - Updated: 2026/05/18
Publication Type: Announcement

Contents: Synopsis - Definition - Introduction - Main - Insights, Updates - Related Publications

Synopsis: This report details a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, alleging that the retailer violated the Americans with Disabilities Act at its Hodgkins, Illinois location by failing to provide reasonable accommodations to fitting room employee Nancy Stack, who was disabled by bone cancer in her leg, and by failing to stop co-worker harassment directed at her. It outlines how the store initially agreed to provide a chair in her work area and limit her scheduled hours but later revoked the scheduling accommodation without explanation, told her to drag a chair from the furniture department each day, and transferred her to a greeter position that conflicted with her medical restrictions, while a co-worker called her names such as "cripple" and "chemo brain," mimicked her limp, and hid her chair. The article identifies the case as EEOC v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Civil Action No. 15-5796, references a separate 2014 EEOC suit involving an intellectually disabled Rockford employee, and notes that conciliation was attempted before filing. The information is useful for workers with cancer or other disabilities, employers, human resources professionals, and disability rights advocates who want a clear example of how the ADA's accommodation and hostile work environment provisions are enforced.

Topic Definition: Disability Discrimination in Employment

Disability discrimination in employment, as addressed in this case, refers to conduct by a covered employer that violates the Americans with Disabilities Act by denying a qualified individual with a disability the reasonable accommodations needed to perform essential job functions, by taking adverse employment action because of disability, or by allowing a hostile work environment based on disability to persist. Reasonable accommodations can include modifications such as providing a chair, adjusting schedules, reassigning non-essential duties, or transferring an employee to a suitable position, and they must be offered unless the employer can demonstrate undue hardship, while hostile work environment claims cover ridicule, slurs, mimicry, and other harassing conduct that an employer fails to investigate or stop after notice.

Introduction

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. violated federal law by failing to provide reasonable accommodations to an employee at its Hodgkins, Ill., store who was disabled by bone cancer and failing to stop harassment of the employee, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed yesterday.

Main Content

According to Julianne Bowman, the EEOC's district director in Chicago, who managed EEOC's pre-suit administrative investigation, the Walmart store initially agreed to comply with employee Nancy Stack's request that the company provide a chair in her work area in the fitting room and limit her scheduled work hours because treatment for bone cancer in her leg limited her ability to walk and stand.

After complying with her scheduling accommodation for many months, the store revoked it for no reason. And the store did not ensure that a chair was in Stack's work area, at one point telling her that she had to haul a chair from the furniture department every day, which was of course hard for her to do given her disability.

Finally, the store transferred Stack from the fitting room to a greeter position, which did not comply with her restrictions on standing.

To add insult to injury, Bowman added, a co-worker harassed Stack by calling her names like "cripple" and "chemo brain," imitated her limp, and removed or hid the chair the employee needed in her work area. Stack complained repeatedly, but the store took no action to stop the co-worker's harassment.

Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability, which can include denying reasonable accommodations to disabled employees and subjecting disabled employees to a hostile work environment.

The EEOC filed suit after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

The case, EEOC v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Civil Action No. 15-5796, was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, and was assigned to U.S. District Judge Sharon Coleman. The government's litigation effort will be led by Trial Attorney Ann Henry and supervised by EEOC Supervisory Trial Attorney Diane Smason.

"It's hard to believe a retailer the size of Wal-Mart could not manage to consistently provide such a simple accommodation as a chair," said John Hendrickson, the regional attorney for EEOC's Chicago District Office. "Telling a disabled employee that she needs to drag a chair across the store every day is no accommodation at all. Employers have to provide reasonable accommodations unless doing so would be an undue hardship. EEOC is aware of no hardship that required Wal-Mart to suddenly change Stack's schedule, deny her the use of a chair, and transfer her out of the fitting room where she had performed her job well for years."

EEOC Trial Attorney Ann Henry commented:

"No employee should have to go to work and face mocking and name calling because she had cancer. Employers who know about such vile harassment in their workplace have an obligation to stop it. Wal-Mart did not do that here, and the EEOC will seek to hold the company liable for that violation."

In July 2014, the EEOC filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart alleging that it violated the ADA by firing an intellectually disabled employee at a Rockford Walmart store after it rescinded his workplace accommodation.

The EEOC's Chicago District Office is responsible for processing discrimination charges, administrative enforcement and the conduct of agency litigation in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and North and South Dakota, with Area Offices in Milwaukee and Minneapolis.

The EEOC is responsible for enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination.

Insights, Analysis, and Developments

Attribution/Source(s): This quality-reviewed publication was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World (DW) due to its relevance to the disability community. Originally authored by EEOC and published on 2015/07/04, this content may have been edited for style, clarity, or brevity.