Pharmacist Cindy Haddad alleged that Wal-Mart (WM) discriminated against her in wages and enforcement of WM policies (as compared to male pharmacy managers) and wrongfully terminated her under the pretext of having violated an ambiguous WM policy. WM claimed it fired Cindy for “failure to secure the pharmacy” and “violation of policy” by leaving the pharmacy area unattended. At trial, it was conclusively shown that WM has conflicting policies on “securing” the pharmacy area.

At trial, it was conclusively shown that WM has conflicting policies on “securing” the pharmacy area and that male pharmacist were not terminated for the same alleged “violation of policy.” It was also conclusively proven that Cindy was not paid the same hourly rate as her male pharmacy manager colleagues and was paid the pharmacy manager bonus five days before she was fired. Plaintiff also proved that defendant’s central witness, District Manager Dave Hogan, attempted to mislead the jury in an effort to make himself look good and to justify WM’s action in firing Cindy. When terminated, Cindy was accused of Gross Misconduct for theft or misappropriation of company assets. She was, of course, completely innocent of these very serious accusations. Nevertheless, she was escorted by security holding her elbow, to the front door where she was asked to surrender her employee discount card in the presence of customers and employees. Never having experienced anything approaching this indignation and embarrassment, and being wrongfully accused of very serious professional wrongdoing, Cindy spiraled into a serious depression, withdrew from her family, isolated herself, and required medication to treat her anxiety. She was unable to find a job for seven months. She had to defend her license to practice pharmacy in a Board of Pharmacy investigation that culminated in a COMPLETE exoneration of Cindy on April 5, 2005. Nevertheless, the damage was done. 

WM fired Cindy, a 10 year dedicated employee, after a 45-minute “investigation” conducted by a non-pharmacist District Manager who had been promoted to the position just two weeks earlier and who had no experience whatsoever in the practice of pharmacy. Cindy is grateful to the jury. WM should be too…the jury could have reasonably awarded more!