EEOC: Sam’s Club to Pay $60K Over Disability Discrimination
ATLANTA – Sam’s East, Inc. and Walmart Inc., which together operate a chain of warehouse club retail stores known as Sam’s Club, will pay $60,000 and undertake remedial measures to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.
According to the EEOC’s suit, the Sam’s Club in Douglasville, Georgia, refused to let a longtime employee return to her associate position in June 2022 following a medical leave of absence related to an automobile accident. The accident left her with post-concussion syndrome, upper back pain, muscle spasms, and chronic lower back pain.
The employee sought minor, temporary adjustments to her duties as a reasonable accommodation for her disabilities. The employee successfully performed a shift with those restrictions upon her return but was later told by her supervisor she could not work with restrictions and would instead need to take another leave of absence until she could work without any restrictions. As instructed, the employee sought additional leave, providing Sam’s Club with a date by which she would be capable of working without restriction. Sam’s Club then denied the employee’s requested leave and fired her. The store’s general manager told her Sam’s Club would not accommodate her injuries because they occurred outside of work.
This alleged conduct violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits disability discrimination. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Sam’s East, Inc. and Walmart Inc., Case No. 1:25-cv-00222-SCJ-CMS) in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.
“With few exceptions, the source of a disabling condition is not relevant to whether an employee is entitled to an accommodation for a disability,” said Marcus G. Keegan, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Atlanta District Office. “The EEOC is pleased that Sam’s Club will take measures to ensure that its employees understand this principle in the future.”
Darrell Graham, district director of the EEOC’s Atlanta office, said, “Employers are obligated to reasonably accommodate employees with disabilities rather than fire them. The EEOC is committed to enforcing the ADA and ensuring that Americans with disabilities have equal access to employment.”
The approved consent decree settling the suit requires Sam’s Club to provide monetary relief to the employee; post a notice informing employees at the Douglasville, Georgia store of the settlement and of their rights against discrimination; and train relevant employees at the store about their rights and responsibilities under the ADA, emphasizing that the source of a disability is generally irrelevant to determining whether an employee is entitled to an accommodation. Moreover, Sam’s Club agreed to provide the EEOC with periodic reports regarding future denials of accommodation requests at the Douglasville, Georgia store, including an explanation of why any request was denied.
For more information on disability discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/disability-discrimination.
The EEOC’s Atlanta District Office has jurisdiction over Georgia and the counties of Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Beaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, Georgetown, Hampton, Jasper and Williamsburg in South Carolina.
The EEOC is the sole federal agency authorized to investigate and litigate against businesses and other private sector employers for violations of federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. For public sector employers, the EEOC shares jurisdiction with the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division; the EEOC is responsible for investigating charges against state and local government employers before referring them to DOJ for potential litigation. The EEOC also is responsible for coordinating the federal government’s employment antidiscrimination effort. More information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.
Source: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC.gov)
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