Wal-Mart is at it again. According to Bloomberg.com, Wal-Mart has, once again, been wantonly disrespecting its disabled employees, and they're losing lawsuits to prove it. Patrick Brady, who has cerebral palsy, was hired in 2002 as a Pharmacy Clerk at the Centereach, New York Wal-Mart.
[He was] transferred on his second day to a job picking up garbage and collecting shopping carts in the parking lot because a manager said he was too slow.
The judge ruled the jury was justified in concluding Wal- Mart recklessly or willfully disregarded the requirements of the law. He said the move to a less prestigious job could be considered a demotion and the initial transfer caused Brady emotional distress.
The judge ruled that Wal-Mart would have to pay $900,000 in damages. This amount is down from a $7.5 million verdict awarded by a jury. A judge cut the $5 million in punitive damages the jury had awarded to the maximum allowable $300,000 under the ADA.
Just last month, we told you about another suit in which Wal-Mart had to pay a pharmacy worker $250,000 for wrongfully firing her because of a gunshot wound. Before that, a man was fired from his Wal-Mart job for nothing less than using his wheelchair at work.
So I guess there are some exceptions when Daphne Moore, Wal-Mart's spokeswoman, says, "We believe in respecting the dignity of every individual and do not tolerate any form of discrimination."