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Walmart is seeking a new trial in a case over the firing of a longtime employee with Down syndrome. A jury in July found Walmart wrongfully terminated the employee, Marlo Spaeth, and awarded her monetary damages.
In a new court filing out late Tuesday, Walmart said it did not know about the link between Spaeth’s disability and her struggles to adapt to a new work schedule, which ultimately led to her firing. Spaeth served as a store associate at a Walmart SuperCenter in Wisconsin for nearly 16 years.
The big-box retailer further claims the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which represented Spaeth in the case, did not show proof that Walmart “discriminated against her ‘with malice or with reckless indifference to [her] federally protected rights.’” The company is asking that the damages ordered to be payed to Spaeth be tossed and that the trial start anew.
Walmart and the EEOC did not immediately respond to request for comment.
The request for a new trial extends a years-long battle between Walmart and the EEOC in the disability discrimination lawsuit. Walmart, the largest private employer in the country, lost the disability lawsuit last year against the EEOC. The federal agency took up the case on behalf of Spaeth.
A jury and judge found that Walmart violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when it fired Spaeth rather than adjusting her schedule as a “reasonable accommodation” to her disability....
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