Then, after nearly 16 years of working there, Walmart abruptly fired her in 2015. Spaeth, who has Down syndrome, was devastated. Her sister and legal

How a Walmart worker with Down syndrome — and her sister — fought and beat the giant retailer after getting fired

submited by
Style Pass
2021-07-24 03:00:01

Then, after nearly 16 years of working there, Walmart abruptly fired her in 2015. Spaeth, who has Down syndrome, was devastated.

Her sister and legal guardian, Amy Jo Stevenson, said that Spaeth quickly "receded into a shell" and lost the sense of purpose she got from the job at the Walmart Supercenter in Manitowoc, where she had thrived on interacting with customers and had received praise from supervisors in performance reviews.

Spaeth, 55, stopped coming to the phone, and would cover her face when someone wanted to take her photo. And when a Walmart commercial came on TV, or when a company truck drove by, she buried her head in her hands.

"It was nothing short of traumatic," Stevenson said in an interview with CNBC. "It was hard, very difficult to watch."

For the past six years, Stevenson — and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — have been locked in a legal battle on Spaeth's behalf with Walmart.

Leave a Comment