Walmart on the hook for $60K in sex stereotyping case

Walmart has agreed to pay $60,000 and take other steps to resolve charges that it violated federal law by denying a promotion to an employee because she had young children at home.

The suit was filed by the EEOC on behalf of Tiffanee Johnson, who began working at an Iowa Walmart location as a part-time overnight stocker associate in 2014.

Things did not go extremely well at first. In fact, it did not take very long for Johnson to accumulate three instances of “coaching,” which is the euphemism Walmart sometimes uses for discipline, according to a court ruling from the lawsuit.

First, she did not complete a job assignment in a timely manner. Second, she was written up for excessive absences. Third, she was reprimanded for calling out of work without providing Walmart with adequate advance notice.

Despite the early issues regarding her job performance, Johnson managed to right the ship.

Johnson eventually became a full-time employee, and she said that early in 2018 an assistant manager encouraged her to apply for a position as a department manager.

Walmart denies promotion

She was one of three candidates who interviewed for the job, but she did not get the promotion.

Johnson said that when she asked a manager why she did not get the job, she was told it was because she had small children at home. The manager also allegedly said that she was not sure that Johnson was interested in furthering her career at Walmart.

Johnson also alleged that when she talked to a second manager about what the first allegedly said, the second manager told her that “[the first manager] should not have told you that.”

Shortly after she was denied the promotion, Johnson resigned.

She then filed an administrative charge of discrimination with the EEOC, which later sued Walmart to allege that it violated Title VII by denying her the promotion based on her sex.

The agency eventually sued Walmart on Johnson’s behalf, asserting a Title VII violation.

No summary judgment

In late July of 2023, an Iowa federal district court rejected Walmart’s bid for summary judgment.

It said a genuine dispute existed as to whether the two managers made the statements that Johnson said they did.

Drawing all inferences in Johnson’s favor, the court added that a reasonable fact finder could conclude that the managers engaged in sex stereotyping denying her the job based on the “pervasive presumption that women are mothers first, and workers second.”

That decision paved the way for the settlement, which the EEOC announced in a January press release.

In addition to paying $60,000, Walmart will train managers on federal law banning sex discrimination. It will also report any new complaints of sex discrimination in promotions to the agency for a set period of time.

“Discriminating against a woman because of stereotypes about working mothers is sex discrimination, plain and simple,” said EEOC regional attorney Gregory Gochanour in the release.

Assumptions about assumptions

You may assume that the days of managers making sex-based assumptions about the ability (and willingness) to work are long gone. But the allegations that were presented in this case show that it is still important to provide training to managers in this area.

Here are some other antiquated (and cringy) sex-based assumptions that managerial personnel should be trained to avoid:

• Women categorically lack the physical strength to perform physically demanding work.
• Women are less well-suited than men to hold leadership positions.
• Women are “mothers first, and workers second.”
• Women are less able than men to excel at challenging job assignments.
• Women are less competitive than men in the work environment.