Jury orders Walmart to pay $125 million after it fired worker with Down syndrome

Walmart Inc. lost a federal lawsuit in Wisconsin when a jury sided with a sales associate who has Down syndrome and alleged that the company fired her because of her disability.

Marlo Spaeth worked for Walmart for about 16 years before she was fired from its Manitowoc store in 2015 due to excessive absenteeism. According to the lawsuit, brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Spaeth's work schedule changed after Walmart implemented a new computerized system in 2014, which created significant difficulty for her. Spaeth's condition requires that she maintain a rigid schedule of daily activities, the lawsuit said. Spaeth requested that she be allowed to resume her prior work schedule of noon to 4 p.m, because if she did not eat dinner at the same time every night, she would get sick, the lawsuit said. Instead of returning her to the old schedule, Walmart fired her, Spaeth alleged. Walmart also refused to rehire her when Spaeth requested it, the lawsuit said.