Former Walmart Employee Awarded $1.46 million in damages by Ontario Jury

On October 10th, 2012 a Windsor jury awarded a former assistant manager of Walmart $1.46 million in damages, an amount exceeding her claim in the constructive dismissal action.

The Plaintiff argued that she had been subject to abuse, sexual harassment, discrimination and intentional infliction of mental suffering on the part of her supervisor, a manager at the store. According to a Windsor Star article, the Plaintiff testified that the manager had called her “a (expletive) idiot” and made her count skids in front of other staff members to prove she could count. It was also argued that she was the target of assault by an assistant manager. The Plaintiff testified that she spoke to senior managers about the abuse several times, though nothing was done to stop it. Unable to work in that environment, the Plaintiff eventually quit.

The Plaintiff was awarded the following from Walmart:

– $200,000 for intentional infliction of mental suffering
– $1 million for punitive damages
– $10,000 for assault

And, the following from the manager personally:

– $100,000 for intentional infliction of mental suffering
– $150,000 for punitive damages.

Ultimately, the Plaintiff did not receive any damages for sexual harassment and discrimination. The damages, in other words, were not tied to any of the prohibited grounds of discrimination (i.e. gender, visible minority status, sexual orientation etc…) and related solely to the bullying and harassment suffered by the Plaintiff.

The jury’s $1 million punitive damages award far exceeds previous Canadian awards of this nature. Counsel for Walmart has stated to the media that it views the award as “perverse” and that it intends to appeal the decision. Nonetheless, the case is expected to have a tremendous impact on how Canadian courts (and employers) will treat workplace bullying and harassment going forward.