On Tuesday, Walmart faced accusations of firing an employee at an Ohio store because she was pregnant, a move that a nonprofit group claims may reflect a broader pattern of discrimination by the largest private employer in the U.S.
The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) filed complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and its Ohio counterpart on behalf of Corrissa Hernandez, who said Walmart terminated her earlier this year after she requested a part-time schedule and permission to sit while working as a cashier.
The NWLC revealed that at least one other pregnant employee at the Oberlin, Ohio, store where Hernandez worked experienced similar treatment. The organization urged the EEOC to investigate Walmart’s practices across the country, expressing concern that pregnant employees in other Walmart stores may also face or be vulnerable to discrimination.
Bentonville, Arkansas-based Walmart responded through a spokesperson, stating that the company is reviewing the complaint. “We don’t tolerate discrimination of any kind and provide reasonable accommodations to thousands of associates,” the company asserted.
Hernandez, in her complaint, shared that she learned about her pregnancy after being hired by Walmart in March. Just a month earlier, she had suffered a miscarriage while working in a job that required her to lift and turn patients in hospital beds.
In April, Hernandez requested accommodations from the store’s lead cashier. Shortly after, a manager informed her that she was being fired because upper management feared she would call out or leave work early.
Although Walmart had previously excluded pregnancy from its list of medical conditions eligible for accommodations, the company claimed in court filings that it updated its policy in 2017 following complaints and an EEOC investigation.
In a separate case, the EEOC had sued Walmart in 2018, accusing the company of discriminating against pregnant workers in a Wisconsin warehouse by denying their requests for restrictions on lifting and other physical tasks. In 2022, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a judge’s dismissal of that case, ruling that Walmart’s accommodation policy applied equally to all workers.
Walmart also paid $14 million in 2020 to settle a proposed class action alleging it routinely denied “light duty” assignments to pregnant workers while granting them to injured and disabled employees. The company denied any wrongdoing in that case.
Hernandez’s complaint accuses Walmart of violating the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and comparable Ohio laws.
