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Federal Jury Awards Man With Cerebral Palsy $7.5 Million in Wal-Mart Discrimination Case
AP ^ | 2.25.05

Posted on 02/25/2005 10:33:51 AM PST by ambrose

Jury Awards $7.5 Million in Wal-Mart Case

Federal Jury Awards Man With Cerebral Palsy $7.5 Million in Wal-Mart Discrimination Case

The Associated Press

Feb. 25, 2005 - A federal jury has ordered Wal-Mart Stores to pay a Long Island man $7.5 million after ruling the retail behemoth discriminated against the man because he has cerebral palsy.

Patrick Brady, 21, was hired for a job in the Wal-Mart pharmacy department in Centereach, N.Y., during the summer of 2002. After one day in the pharmacy, he was reassigned to other responsibilities, including collecting garbage and shopping carts from the parking lot.

The jury in U.S. District Court in Central Islip deliberated one day before ruling on Wednesday that Brady was discriminated against when he was transferred. It also found that Brady was asked impermissible pre-employment questions about his disability, said his lawyer, Douglas H. Wigdor.

Brady, who now works in a Centereach supermarket bagging groceries, said in a statement that he was "very happy the jury believed in me."

The jury award includes $5 million in punitive damages, which Wigdor said was likely to be reduced to $600,000 since federal law limits the amount that can be awarded for punitive damages. The jury also awarded Mr. Brady $2.5 million in compensatory damages, Wigdor said.

Christi Gallagher, a spokesman for the Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart, said in a statement that the company would appeal.

"We appreciate the service of the jurors but disagree with their decision," Gallagher said. "We feel very strongly that Mr. Brady did not suffer discrimination in our store."


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: chinamart; lawsuit; walmart; walmarthell
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To: ambrose

Oh, I quit shopping there years ago. For no reason other than it is ALWAYS packed! But I do have my reservations about Wal-Mart. However, I have been told to be careful posting bad things about Wal-Mart on this site.....


21 posted on 02/25/2005 10:49:53 AM PST by yellowdoghunter (Liberals should be seen and not heard.)
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To: ambrose

As a lawyer I usually start the day wondering what in the world the legal profession and the judiciary will do to lower the respect for the profession and the legal system even further. Sometimes it even takes until after noon to find out. Oy!


22 posted on 02/25/2005 10:50:08 AM PST by Wally_Kalbacken
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To: catpuppy
You do know that most wal-mart employees are eligible for welfare, don't you?

A F500 corporation should not have to use the government to help provide for it's employees.
23 posted on 02/25/2005 10:50:25 AM PST by FactsMatter (If you play World of Warcraft please freepmail me. :))
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To: FactsMatter

I hate getting caught up in reactionary thinking where we are somehow obligated to defend Wal-Mart because some leftwing pinkos attack it. Remember, even a broken clock is right twice a day...

As for this jury award... seems crazy, but I didn't hear the evidence..


24 posted on 02/25/2005 10:51:04 AM PST by ambrose (....)
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To: ambrose
What is it about Wal-Mart threads that make me like a moth to a light? sigh ...

This story seems odd. Here they go so far as to hire some people with room temperature.

It's true!

The other day, when walking out, the guy that checks your receipt seemed to be napping. Rather than get called back, I tapped him on the shoulder to check my stuff.

When he fell over and didn't get up I got scared and ran.

I'm shopping at K-Mart from now on. ;)

25 posted on 02/25/2005 10:51:09 AM PST by G.Mason ("If you are broken It is because you are brittle" ... K.Hepburn, The Lion In Winter)
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To: FactsMatter
You do know that most wal-mart employees are eligible for welfare, don't you?

In a word, no. Source please?

26 posted on 02/25/2005 10:52:53 AM PST by catpuppy
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To: FactsMatter
No, they are anything but not.

After all, they use our legal system to obtain and buy any land that they get, and I doubt they wrote the rules on the more controversial aspects of our system.
27 posted on 02/25/2005 10:52:54 AM PST by bill1952 ("All that we do is done with an eye towards something else.")
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To: yellowdoghunter
WALMART FACTS.COM
28 posted on 02/25/2005 10:54:12 AM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist (EEE)
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To: ambrose

Only thing I have against Walmart is their insistance on buying Chinese made products.

I guess they have to make money somehow, but not out of my walet.


29 posted on 02/25/2005 10:55:10 AM PST by Leatherneck_MT (A Patriot must always be willing to defend his Country against his Government)
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To: catpuppy

Personal experiance talking to most of the night shift employess at a local wal-mart plus I was friends with the personal manager and a co-manager at another wal-mart who verified the information.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=walmart+employees+on+welfare&spell=1



"One of the most telling of all the criticisms of Wal-Mart is to be found in a February 2004 report by the Democratic Staff of the House Education and Workforce Committee. In analyzing Wal-Mart's success in holding employee compensation at low levels, the report assesses the costs to US taxpayers of employees who are so badly paid that they qualify for government assistance even under the less than generous rules of the federal welfare system. For a two-hundred-employee Wal-Mart store, the government is spending $108,000 a year for children's health care; $125,000 a year in tax credits and deductions for low-income families; and $42,000 a year in housing assistance. The report estimates that a two-hundred-employee Wal-Mart store costs federal taxpayers $420,000 a year, or about $2,103 per Wal-Mart employee. That translates into a total annual welfare bill of $2.5 billion for Wal-Mart's 1.2 million US employees.

Wal-Mart is also a burden on state governments. According to a study by the Institute for Labor and Employment at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2003 California taxpayers subsidized $20.5 million worth of medical care for Wal-Mart employees. In Georgia ten thousand children of Wal-Mart employees were enrolled in the state's program for needy children in 2003, with one in four Wal-Mart employees having a child in the program.[9] "


30 posted on 02/25/2005 10:56:08 AM PST by FactsMatter (If you play World of Warcraft please freepmail me. :))
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To: Wally_Kalbacken
Yes. Unfortunately I have to agree with you.

I wish there were easy answers and elegant solutions, but they all seem to be pretty difficult to execute.
31 posted on 02/25/2005 10:56:42 AM PST by bill1952 ("All that we do is done with an eye towards something else.")
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To: FactsMatter
Dozens of other companies buy from Red China.

Don't get mad at Walmart - get mad at the Congresscritters and current administration who create the environment for companies to move jobs overseas.

32 posted on 02/25/2005 10:57:00 AM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist (EEE)
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To: bill1952

Most everything the DNC does is legal, that doesn't mean it is the right thing to do.


33 posted on 02/25/2005 10:57:37 AM PST by FactsMatter (If you play World of Warcraft please freepmail me. :))
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To: yellowdoghunter
"I have been told to be careful posting bad things about Wal-Mart on this site....."

That's twice in this post that you have alluded to having "to be careful posting bad things about Wal-Mart on this site".

Okay you've been warned.

Was it a cryptic note?

Did they threaten you with violence?

Gonna kidnap your kids?

Inquiring minds and all that ...

34 posted on 02/25/2005 10:58:24 AM PST by G.Mason ("If you are broken It is because you are brittle" ... K.Hepburn, The Lion In Winter)
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To: yellowdoghunter
i didn't know that companies that provide a good place to work was a bad thing.

According to many, you should fall down on your knees and be THANKFUL to the Employer (cue choirs of angels) for deigning to let you work for him/her.

35 posted on 02/25/2005 10:58:38 AM PST by Kretek
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

Nice try, but if you think I am going to post anything negative about current trade policy you are crazy. It is a very quick way to get ones account banned from this site and a popular method that 'free'traders use to have their critics removed.

Try again. :)


36 posted on 02/25/2005 10:59:00 AM PST by FactsMatter (If you play World of Warcraft please freepmail me. :))
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To: G.Mason

LOL!!!HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!


37 posted on 02/25/2005 10:59:19 AM PST by jerwin63 (Enough!)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

Or instead of getting mad, simply direct your purchasing dollars to companies that don't engage in Wal-Mart's tactics.

For ex., I buy all my sneakers from New Balance - probably the only sneaker company left that assembles them in the 'ol USA (S Carolina, I believe).


38 posted on 02/25/2005 10:59:49 AM PST by ambrose (....)
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To: yellowdoghunter
I still can not get a straight answer from either their website or other places if they offer health insurance to ALL of their employees.

As I understand it, all employees (full and part-time) are allowed to participate following the usual probationary period.

39 posted on 02/25/2005 11:00:40 AM PST by WildTurkey (When will CBS Retract and Apologize?)
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To: yellowdoghunter
However, I have been told to be careful posting bad things about Wal-Mart on this site.....

WAL-MART SUCKS. IT IS RUN BY THE SCUM OF THE EARTH. DON'T SHOP THERE.


40 posted on 02/25/2005 11:01:09 AM PST by ambrose (....)
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