A jury has told Walmart to pay $31.22 million to a New Hampshire woman who says she was fired in retaliation for pointing out poor safety practices. Maureen McPadden also said there was an added element of gender bias in her firing:
McPadden claimed that Wal-Mart used her loss of a pharmacy key as a pretext for firing her in November 2012, when she was 47, after more than 13 years at the retailer.
McPadden said she was fired in retaliation for her raising concerns that customers at the Wal-Mart store in Seabrook, New Hampshire, where she worked were getting prescriptions filled improperly because of inadequate staff training.
McPadden also said her gender played a role, alleging that Wal-Mart later disciplined but stopped short of firing a male pharmacist in New Hampshire who also lost his pharmacy key.
Walmart will be appealing, but this jury decision comes as the retailer is fighting two gender-related lawsuits in Pennsylvania, one from a woman who says she was told to choose between her career and her kids and one from a woman who was denied family leave and fired when she asked for family medical leave to take care of her sick mother. McPadden’s case has another element of familiarity—employers like Walmart often come up with flimsy reasons to fire people who’ve complained or organized—but there’s plenty of evidence that a woman who works at Walmart will always have a target on her back.