Disability Discrimination:
Walmart manager’s unreasonable conditions for diabetic employee violated ADA. A Walmart meat-department employee with diabetes had always kept her testing kit close by at her desk in the work area. A manager ordered her to remove it to her locker, at a far end of the store. (There was no apparent significant reason for this direction.) The employee protested that she needed to frequently test her blood sugar, and she could not get to the locker soon enough to test and control her condition. Nonetheless, she was ordered to remove the test kit. Then she was told that if she left her work station to go to her locker, she would be fired. She could only test her blood sugar on breaks or lunch. Unable to effectively test and control, the employee soon had a major diabetic reaction while in the store’s meat cooler. She had a seizure and was hospitalized and unable to resume work at Walmart. Walmart defended by claiming she did not actually have a disability because she had always been able to perform all essential functions of her job. The court rejected this defense. The plaintiff had been able to do all functions until the manager’s direction and withdrawal of any accommodation made it impossible for her to successfully function. Berard v. Walmart Stores East LP (M.D. Fla., 2011).
