The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently sued Walmart in federal court for terminating employees whose disabilities prevented them from passing an employment test.
The lawsuit claims Walmart managers in Arkansas used an unlawful qualifications standard, the Pathways Graduation Assessment, and didn't provide reasonable accommodations for workers with disabilities, as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It claimed the test screened out or tended to screen out people with disabilities. The EEOC said the assessment was not job-related and consistent with business necessity in certain jobs.
Walmart, headquartered in Bentonville, Ark., is the largest retailer in the world, with 2.1 million employees worldwide and 10,500 stores in 20 countries. Walmart required workers across the United States to take the assessment from 2015 until 2020. The computer-based assessment measured employees' knowledge on customer service, inventory essentials, retail fundamentals and merchandising. The company fired workers who didn't pass the test after three attempts, according to court documents.
"Employees with disabilities face far too many obstacles in life, and the workplace should not be one of those obstacles," said Edmond Sims, acting district director of the EEOC's Memphis district office, which has jurisdiction over Arkansas, Tennessee and part of Mississippi. "Employees with disabilities who are successfully performing their jobs should be...
COVINGTON, Ky. (WKRC) - Two Erlanger-based manufacturing companies agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle allegations they improperly obtained pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program loans, federal...