Marlo Spaeth (left) was fired from Walmart in July 2015, after working there for nearly 16 years. Her sister, Amy Jo Stevenson, has been in a legal battle with the retail giant since then. She filed a discrimination complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Amy Jo Stevenson
A federal judge has rejected Walmart’s request for a new trial after a jury found the retailer discriminated against a longtime employee with Down syndrome by refusing to adjust her schedule and firing her.
In a court filing on Monday, the judge stood by the July 2021 ruling. A jury found that Walmart violated the law by terminating Marlo Spaeth, an employee who folded towels, tidied aisles and helped customers for nearly 16 years in a Walmart Supercenter in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
It ordered Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, to pay more than $125 million in damages — one of the highest ever for a single victim won by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The federal agency filed the disability discrimination suit on Spaeth’s behalf.
Damages were reduced by the judge to $300,000, the maximum allowed under the law.
The judge also ordered Walmart earlier this year to give Spaeth more than $50,000 in back pay and immediately rehire her, if she is interested in the job.
The judge’s denial is the latest in a seven-year battle between Spaeth’s family and Walmart.
“The court has concluded that a reasonable jury could find that Walmart was aware that Spaeth needed...
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