Walmart fired a 16-year employee with Down syndrome. A Green Bay jury returned a $125 million verdict in three hours.

On July 15, 2021, an eight-member federal jury in Green Bay, Wisconsin spent roughly three hours deciding that Walmart owed Marlo Spaeth $125,150,000. Spaeth has Down syndrome. She had stocked shelves and handled returns at the Manitowoc, Wisconsin store for 16 years, with consistently positive performance reviews from her own managers.

The Schedule That Broke Her Routine

In November 2014, Walmart rolled out a new computerized scheduling system designed to align staffing with customer traffic. Spaeth's familiar noon-to-4pm shift was replaced with a 1pm-to-5:30pm slot. For most employees, an hour-and-a-half shift change is an inconvenience. For Spaeth, it disrupted the strict daily routine she relied on, including when she ate dinner. Eating at irregular times made her physically sick. Her family and her job coach contacted the store repeatedly, asking that she keep her old hours - a straightforward accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

What the EEOC Filing Said

Walmart refused. When Spaeth kept showing up for her old shift, the company marked her absent. In July 2015, after sixteen years on the job, Walmart terminated her for "absenteeism." The EEOC took the case and sued Walmart on three counts under the ADA: failure to accommodate, discriminatory termination, and retaliation. The agency's position was that the accommodation Spaeth requested was both reasonable and free.

Three Hours of Deliberation

After a four-day trial, the jury returned a verdict of $125,150,000: $150,000 in compensatory damages and $125 million in punitive damages. It was one of the largest ADA verdicts in U.S. history. Then federal law collapsed it. The ADA caps punitive damages based on employer size; for a company Walmart's size, the cap is $300,000. The jury's $125 million message was reduced to a fraction of a single day's revenue for the retail giant.

What the Seventh Circuit Said

Walmart fought every level of the outcome. The trial judge denied the company's motion for a new trial in November 2022. Walmart appealed. In August 2024 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed the verdict on both liability and damages in EEOC v. Wal-Mart Stores East, L.P., No. 22-3202. The number on the jury form did not match the payout. The verdict, however, stood.