Written by Judy Greenwald
Walmart Inc. will pay $20 million to settle a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit and stop using a pre-employment test that allegedly disproportionately excluded female applicants, the agency said Thursday.
Walmart said in a statement that although it has agreed to discontinue the test, it believes it was nondiscriminatory.
The EEOC said in its statement that Walmart conducted the physical ability test, known as the PAT, as a requirement for applicants to be hired as order fillers at Walmart’s grocery distribution centers nationwide and that it disproportionately excluded female applicants.
ACO Soap Box:
Although Walmart is a very large enterprise, all companies are subject to these types of claims/allegations. Discrimination and employment-related lawsuits continue to be loss leaders in our industry. Nearly 3 out of 5 employers are sued due to an employment-related compliant. Additionally, business owners in the DC area have a 32% above the national average chance of being pulled into an employment-related claim. In short, business owners cannot afford to risk not having and/or reviewing the quality of their Employment Practices Liability Program on an annual basis.
For this reason, we would like to offer our Risk Assessment, free of charge, for any company that would like to utilize our analysis. Just reach out to us and ask for a copy.