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Sam's
Club, the wholesale chain store owned and operated by Wal-Mart,
violated federal law by compelling Latino employees to endure a hostile
work environment based upon their Mexican national origin, the U.S.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it
filed.
The EEOC's suit (EEOC v. Wal-Mart Stores, Incorporated,
dba Sam's Club, et al, Case No. 09-CV-00804), filed in U.S. District
Court for the Eastern District of California, charges a Fresno Sam's
Club subjected Latino employees to repeated verbal harassment,
including the repeated use of derogatory words such as "wetback."
National
origin discrimination violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of
1964. The EEOC filed suit after first attempting to reach a voluntary
settlement. The agency's suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages
for each of the claimants as well injunctive relief, including the
creation of a formal discrimination complaint procedure, effective
investigative and monitoring mechanisms, and annual training on equal
employment opportunity for all employees.
"It is appalling that
an employer, after becoming aware of the harassment, allowed this type
of behavior to continue without taking appropriate and corrective
action," said the EEOC's Fresno local director, Melissa Barrios. "The
EEOC will continue to expand its presence in the Central Valley to
ensure that its employers understand the magnitude of their duty to
protect employees from discrimination."
Anna Park, regional
attorney of the Los Angeles District Office, added, "Particularly in
California, tolerance of openly racist behavior towards Latinos should
be a closed page in our history books. Since such a moment has not been
reached, the EEOC will pursue all available remedies, including
litigation, to ensure that Central Valley employees are protected
against this sort of intolerable and unlawful harassment in the
workplace."
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is an Arkansas-based international retailer with more than 7,800 stores worldwide.
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