Deaf, Blind Walmart Worker Denied Job Coach Awarded $5.2M (1)

Walmart Stores Inc. must pay $5.2 million for questioning a deaf cart pusher’s need for a permanent job coach 17 years into his employment, a federal jury in Wisconsin said.

The verdict is a big win for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which brought the lawsuit on behalf of Paul Reina, an employee at a Walmart store in Beloit, Wis., since January 1999. Reina is also blind and developmentally disabled, and he was always allowed to work with a job coach, who watched for oncoming cars and otherwise helped Reina perform his duties despite his disability, the EEOC alleged in ...