Lawsuit Alleges Walmart Schedules Workers Without Notice as Pretext for Termination

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A proposed class action claims that Walmart has a pattern and practice of retaliating against employees who take protected medical leave by scheduling them for work without notice and then firing them when they miss their shifts.

The 21-page lawsuit was filed by a former Walmart employee who claims that she had been successfully working for the retail giant for six years with accommodations for her disability before a new manager rescinded the accommodations and effectively terminated her.

The suit alleges Walmart’s “discriminatory animus” toward workers with disabilities violates the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The plaintiff says that when she was initially hired at Walmart’s Saline, Michigan store in May 2015, she was told that the company would accommodate her physical disability. Over the next six years, the plaintiff received only positive employment reviews to go with several raises and bonuses and the Employee of the Month award for her “exceptional” performance, the suit relays.

In early 2021, however, a new supervisor threatened to terminate the plaintiff “if she continued to follow her previously established medical accommodations” and “harassed” the woman in front of customers “in condescending and accusatory tones,” according to the complaint.

Per the case, the plaintiff’s new supervisor rejected both her previous physician’s note and a new note she received in February 2021 detailing her medical restrictions and proposed accommodations. Although the plaintiff was instructed to, and did, apply for renewed accommodations through Walmart’s workplace conflict platform, her request was denied, and she was placed on “personal leave” for up to 90 days, the suit relays.

Walmart called the plaintiff’s mandatory leave a “reassignment leave claim” despite informing her that there was no suitable position available, according to the lawsuit. The plaintiff says she was aware of several open positions at her store but was denied for each of these positions “without … justification.”

The plaintiff claims that at the end of her 90-day leave, she happened to check Walmart’s scheduling system and was “surprised to learn” that she had been scheduled to work the next day “despite being told that this would no longer be an option.” The lawsuit alleges the plaintiff’s supervisor violated Walmart’s policy by failing to provide notice of her scheduled shift at least 24 hours beforehand. 

Although the plaintiff called Walmart several times and was assured that she should not return to work the following day, she was still on the schedule several hours later, the case relays. Fearing she would be fired for not reporting to work, the plaintiff entered the scheduling system and reported an absence, after which Walmart restricted her access to the system, according to the suit.

The lawsuit alleges the plaintiff was thereafter never contacted regarding her employment status and was effectively terminated on July 5, 2021. According to the case, the plaintiff filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, to whom Walmart “falsely asserted” that the woman had quit voluntarily.

The plaintiff looks to represent all former Walmart employees in Michigan who, at the end of a protected FMLA leave of absence, were placed on the work schedule without actual notice so they could be terminated for a “no call no show” when they did not report to work.

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