Six Calcasieu Parish residents filed suit against their big-box department store employer alleging civil rights violation in an alleged ongoing pattern of discrimination spanning more than two decades.
Jennifer Cormier, Phyllis Hazel, Rosetta King, Pamela Henderson-McWain, Eula Webb Willis and Wilson Goodley sued Wal-Mart, headquartered in Benton, Ark., in the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Louisiana on June 23 alleging multiple incidents of age and race discrimination in the workplace between 1997 and 2015.
The suit states that each of the plaintiffs was fired on false pretexts, ranging from attendance violations to falsification of documents. According to the complaint, younger and Caucasian employees were not disciplined for the same issues raised with the plaintiffs.
Asserting that the defendant breached of its own store policies in its actions, exhibited bias towards non-Caucasian workers, and in some cases distorted or ignored information in order to terminate their jobs, the plaintiffs claim lost income and benefits, mental anguish, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life.
The group seeks reinstatement and actual damages, punitive damages for the defendant’s alleged intentional indifference to their federally protected rights, back and front pay, pre- and post-judgment interest, attorney’s fees, expenses, and court costs. The plaintiffs are represented by Jill Swearingen Pierce of Bradley, Steele & Pierce in Port Arthur, Texas.
U.S. District Court of the Western District of Louisiana case number 2:15-cv-01946-JTT-KK.