For 16 years, Marlo Spaeth worked as a sales associate for Walmart in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Now a jury has decided that Walmart violated the Americans With Disabilities Act when Spaeth was fired following stressful changes to her work schedule.
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During her tenure, Spaeth, who has Down syndrome, was responsible for multiple tasks, including folding towels, cleaning aisles, processing returns, and greeting customers, her lawyers said.
In November 2014, her hours were suddenly shifted when Walmart instituted a computerized scheduling system. The system was based on company traffic and designed to ensure stores were appropriately staffed.
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Spaeth was expected to change her schedule from her usual noon to 4 p.m. and instead work 1 to 5:30 p.m., her lawyers said.
Spaeth, who thrives on routine, struggled with the change in her everyday and she reportedly told her manager multiple times that she wanted to return to her old schedule, her lawyers said.
The company refused to let Spaeth return to her old schedule at her store, which employed more than 300 people and was open 24 hours a day, her lawyers said. Because of her absenteeism and tardiness, Spaeth received disciplinary action, according to her lawyer.
On July 10, 2015, Spaeth was fired by her store for excessive absenteeism.
Spaeth's mother and sister took time to meet with her and the Walmart managers asking for her to be rehired and allowed to return to her old schedule, but Walmart refused to rehire her, her lawyers said. However, the letter of termination she received said that she could be hired again, her lawyers said.
On Thursday, the eight-person jury found after the four-day trial that Walmart violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, and now Spaeth will be awarded $125 million in punitive damages and $150,000 in compensatory damages.
The jury took only three hours of deliberation to decide on their verdict, finding that Walmart had failed to provide a reasonable accommodation for Spath, even though she needed one because she has Down syndrome and it would not have posed a hardship to the company, according to The New York Times.
The jury also decided that Walmart had fired Spaeth and then failed to rehire her because of her disability.
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In a statement from Walmart, the company spokesperson Randy Hargrove said that the verdict would be reduced to $300,000, which is the maximum amount allowed under federal law for compensatory and punitive damages.
"We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind, and we routinely accommodate thousands of associates every year. We often adjust associate schedules to meet our customers' expectations, and while Ms. Spaeth's schedule was adjusted, it remained within the times she indicated she was available," Hargrove said. "We're sensitive to this situation and believe we could have resolved this issue with Ms. Spaeth, however, the EEOC's demands were unreasonable."