EEOC alleges Wal-Mart employee mistreated disabled co-worker
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The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a lawsuit charging that an Akron, Ohio Wal-Mart store allowed a male employee to subject a developmentally disabled female co-worker to inappropriate conduct.
The EEOC said that from about April 2005 through January 2011, the store management allowed a male co-worker to sexually harass Jamie Wells, who is developmentally disabled, including sexually touching her while on the store's premises.
The EEOC, which filed the suit last week, said although store management was aware of the harassment, managers failed to take prompt or effective action to remedy the situation. Instead, Ms. Wells was fired three weeks after she complained about the abusive conduct.
The EEOC's suit charges Wal-Mart Stores East L.P., a unit of Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc., with violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“Ms. Wells' impairment made her particularly vulnerable to sexual harassment,” Regional Attorney Debra Lawrence of the EEOC's Philadelphia District Office said in a statement.
“Once this Wal-Mart was put on notice of the harassment, it had a legal responsibility to take immediate and appropriate action to stop the misconduct. When an employer fails to do so, the EEOC must and will hold that employer accountable,” Ms. Lawrence said.
Wal-Mart said in a statement that it “does not tolerate any type of harassment or discrimination in the workplace. When we learned of Ms. Wells' claims against her co-worker, we investigated and took decisive action to terminate the man whom she was accusing. As part of our investigation, witness accounts led us to discover that Ms. Wells also engaged in inappropriate conduct, which led to her dismissal.”
