Everyone knows that retail giant Wal-Mart has the kind of resources that can pay for the best legal defense on the planet. They are somewhat notorious for their consistent refusal to settle when they have litigation brought against them. In the case of Jamie Wells, however, Wal-Mart decided that the best course of action was to settle the lawsuit that had been filed on Wells’s behalf by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for sexual harassment and retaliation. What makes this particular sexual harassment case unique from most others is that Ms. Wells is developmentally disabled.
Wells worked as a retail associate in one of Wal-Mart’s locations in Akron, Ohio. She had been an employee for nearly 12 years and worked in the store’s lawn and garden department. According to the EEOC lawsuit, a male coworker of hers began sexually harassing her in 2005. The harassment continued until 2011 and included sexual contact on the part of the 72-year-old coworker as well as verbal abuse of a sexual nature. A clinical psychologist who testified in the case stated that because of Wells’s disability, she is physically an adult but intellectually she is little more than a young child.
This meant that as far as the law was concerned, Wells was intellectually unable to consent to the harassment. The coworker took advantage of her disability and continued making sexual advances on her for years. The lawsuit alleges that management at the store was privy to the situation by another employee from the time it started in 2005. No significant action was taken on the part of Wal-Mart management and finally in early 2011, Wells reported her coworker’s behavior and that employee was subsequently terminated. Wal-Mart settled for just over $363,000 and was ordered to provide the management staff at their Akron location with sexual harassment training.
