The Ridge at Fox Run

Wal-Mart Discriminates

Disabled Treated Unfairly

This article is from the March 8, 2000 editiion of MSNBCU.S. Accuses Wal-Mart of Disability Bias


ASSOCIATED PRESS
SACRAMENTO, Calif., March 8 – The federal government has sued Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, accusing it of using job questionnaires to screen out disabled applicants.

The suit claims Wal-Mart violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, attorneys for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Friday. The questionnaire asked applicants to indicate if they might need any accommodation to perform required duties.

The EEOC says it is illegal to ask about disability before a job offer is made.

”An employer is entitled to know if someone can do a job, but the question is: At what point?” EEOC attorney David Kelley said of the lawsuit filed Thursday in federal
court.

Wal-Mart officials said the questionnaire was designed to accommodate job applicants, not discriminate against them.

”We didn’t want an applicant to give up their current job, come to work for Wal-Mart and then find out that we couldn’t accommodate their needs,” said Melissa Brown, a
company spokeswoman.

Brown also said Wal-Mart had removed questions about disabilities from its questionnaire in December 1997, following previous legal challenges.

Kelley said EEOC investigators found the questionnaire being used in stores as recently as last year.

”Wal-Mart had assured the commission that they were no longer using the form,” Kelley said. ”We learned during our investigation that they continued to use it in various facilities in California, Texas, Arizona and elsewhere.”