Fired Wal-Mart Pharmacist Wins Landmark Gender Discrimination Case
Cynthia Haddad worked as a pharmacist at Wal-Mart for over 10 years. She lodged complaints with the company because she was paid less than male pharmacists while performing the same job description. She also voiced her concerns and filed reports of controlled drugs disappearing from the pharmacy.
After her complaints she was fired from Wal-Mart in April, 2004 despite her record of positive employee reviews for many years. Wal-Mart alleged that Haddad had violated company policy and failed to properly secure the pharmacy. She was escorted from the store by security personnel after being terminated.
Haddad, who was devastated and humiliated over being fired and particularly the allegations of being involved with drug theft, decided to sue the retail giant for gender discrimination and defamation. She felt that the accusations would destroy her good reputation and prevent her from getting another job as a pharmacist.
In her lawsuit, Haddad claimed that Wal-Mart had fired her for leaving a technician alone in the pharmacy, and they alleged that this led to the theft of the prescription drug Prevacid by the technician. The incident happened 18 months before Haddad was fired.
Other male pharmacists testified at the trial that they had been on duty when thefts of other controlled drugs had occurred and had not been disciplined by the company.
It is not illegal in Massachusetts for a pharmacist to leave the pharmacy while a technician is on duty. During the trial a human resources expert who had studied Wal-Mart's Pharmacy Operations Manual testified that Wal-Mart had failed to equally enforce its policies and to update employees when policies had changed.
Haddad's work performance reviews were presented by her attorneys as exhibits during the trial. She received glowing compliments on her work and ethics. Statements from her superiors in the reviews included: "a huge asset to the department" and "a very reliable pharmacist" who has "done a great job keeping the department together".
Wal-Mart's defense lawyers argued that Haddad had not received excellent reviews for the duration of her employment. In court they stood by their claim that she was fired for failing to secure the pharmacy, which resulted in the theft of prescription drugs by the pharmacy technician.
They further claimed that Haddad was not entitled to the same pay as other pharmacy managers because she wasn't actually a manager. Haddad had agreed to serve as pharmacy manager on a temporary basis but ended up filling the manager's shoes for a full 13 months. Since the "manager" title was not official, Wal-Mart says she was not entitled to the extra $1 per hour that managers, who happen to be male, receive.
A spokesman for Wal-Mart stated that the facts in the case are clear and Haddad's termination had absolutely nothing to do with gender, but he refused to elaborate on the comment.
In the end the jury awarded Cynthia Haddad $2 million in punitive and compensatory damages. Broken down, that amounts to $1 million in punitive damages, $95,000 in back pay, $733,307 in front pay, and $125,000 for emotional distress. The jury also found that Wal-Mart was guilty of defamation, but did not make a monetary award for that charge. Haddad's attorneys plan to also seek a judgment for legal fees against Wal-Mart.
Haddad's legal victory is important because it may widen a class action lawsuit against Wal-Mart for gender discrimination.
Wal-Mart plans to appeal the verdict. Not that $2 million is a lot of money to them, but they must fight in order to prevent this case from setting a dangerous precedent that could cost them much more in future lawsuits.
