EEOC Says Walmart Violated ADA by Barring Worker’s Return to Job

The EEOC sued Walmart in California federal court accusing management at the retail giant’s San Leandro, Calif. location of illegally preventing a worker who’d been injured in the workplace from returning to a position with previously-approved accommodations.

Walmart repeatedly denied requests from Kathleen Alvarez to go back to her job under the company’s Temporary Alternative Duty program, which provides accommodations to employees who’ve suffered workplace injuries, according to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Monday complaint in the US District Court for the District of Northern California.

Walmart, by many estimates the largest private employer in the US, has frequently come under scrutiny from the EEOC for employment discrimination on the basis of disability. Since 2024, the company has settled at least six disability discrimination cases with the commission.

Alvarez had been working in a TAD position since 2011 after a workplace injury left her with chronic hand pain. She took an approved leave of absence during the Covid-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2021,but Walmart denied her requests to then return to her role, violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, the complaint said.

The EEOC’s suit said Walmart’s refusal to allow Alvarez to return to “duties she had performed successfully for nine years” constituted a failure to provide a reasonable accommodation under the ADA.

Instead of being offered an alternative reasonable accommodation, Alvarez was placed on indefinite unpaid leave, the complaint said, even as the store had a vacancy in early 2024 for a position with the same duties Alvarez previously performed.

The EEOC is seeking injunctive relief, back pay, and compensatory and punitive damages.

A Walmart spokesperson said in an email the company employs thousands of people with reasonable accommodations.

“We don’t tolerate discrimination of any kind and have been a top employer for those with disabilities,” the spokesperson wrote. “We will defend the company against this litigation and respond appropriately to the Court.”

The case is EEOC v. Walmart, Inc., N.D. Cal., No. 4:25-cv-05484, complaint filed 6/30/25.