Minneapolis based Target Corp. has entered into a settlement to resolve a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by 16-year employee. The woman who filed the lawsuit has a diagnosed disability that made it difficult for her to keep track of time. While she worked at Target, other employees would routinely remind her when she failed to notice that it was time for her break.
But at some point, the store stopped accommodating her disability, according to the lawsuit. Target alleges that the woman was terminated because she was late returning from her lunch break on three occasions over the course of 18 months. One of these occasions was apparently an instance in which she was two minutes late returning. Target noted that it does not make any exceptions, even if an employee is only two minutes late.
The 40-year-old woman, during her 16-year tenure with Target, worked as a cashier, shelf stocker and salesperson. The company admits that she received satisfactory performance reviews and that she was like by her supervisors and co-workers.
While Target claimed to be unaware of the woman’s disability, she had obtained her job at the store through a non-profit community group which helped place people with disabilities in appropriate employment. She even had an on-the-job job coach who would come to the store to help her cope with her disability.
As the two sides agreed to the settlement, Target attempted to have the terms of the $275,000 sealed. The judge however, found no compelling reason to seal the details of the settlement.
Source: Sacramento Bee, “Target settles case of Woodland employee fired for being late to lunch,” Denny Walsh, May 21, 2012.
