Black Employee Charges Walmart’s Unequal Treatment
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces federal laws prohibiting sex and race-based discrimination.
On February 11, 2022, the EEOC announced suit against Walmart alleging racial discrimination against a Black employee for providing an unsanitary, cluttered storage closet for lactation while giving a white employee a clean management office space for the same purpose.
The EEOC also contends Walmart discriminated against the complaining worker by failing to advance her to a management position on the presumption that with small children at home she would not stay in the workforce long-term or seek further promotion.
The lawsuit seeks monetary and punitive damages as well as injunctive relief to prevent future violations.
EEOC district director Julie Bowman commented, “The EEOC will continue to enforce Title VII [of the Civil Rights Act of 1964] to ensure that employers provide women with young children at home the same opportunities for career advancement as other workers and that nursing mothers are not provided inferior lactation spaces based on race.”
Take-aways:
The suit illustrates why employers should provide clean, private and safe spaces for all lactating employees; implement effective harassment and discrimination prevention training and policies; and ensure management correctly investigates, documents and resolves any complaints of unlawful harassment, discrimination and retaliation.
At flat fees, we provide live webinar harassment prevention training for all California employees. We also include California compliant anti-harassment policies within our model handbook and offer a stand-alone lactation accommodation policy.
For further information, please contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.
See also:
- Management’s Best Foot Forward – Workplace Policy Handbook & Forms for 2022(February 18, 2022)
- Tracking Down Discrimination – EEOC 2020 Report Retaliation, Disability Claims Predominate (April 16, 2021)
- What’s New in 2020 Freedom of Expression – Higher Workplace Standards to Assist Lactating Moms (January 17, 2020)
- Cautionary Tales Episode 28 – EEOC Settles Female Miner Discrimination Case for $690,000 (June 27, 2019)
Cindy Bamforth
March 3, 2022