[ad_1]
PORT ANGELES – A federal jury awarded $ 744,620 in damages to a former pharmacist in the Port Angeles and Sequim Walmart stores who could not administer the vaccines due to a disability.
Lori Jacobs, 63, said she suffered from cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis and did not have fine motor skills to provide flu vaccines and other vaccines to clients.
She alleged that Walmart had not taken her disability into account before she went on leave without pay in April 2017.
"I want to make sure that department stores like Walmart do not eliminate disabled employees from its workforce," Jacobs said in an interview on Thursday.
"We do not choose to be disabled. We always want to be active workers in our community. "
Jacobs received Wednesday $ 221,566 for past salaries, $ 223,054 for future salaries and $ 650,000 for pain, suffering and other damages under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The federal law caps psychological damage related to emotional distress at $ 300,000, for a total of $ 744,620 of judgment.
"We are delighted that the jury has recognized the value that employees with disabilities can bring to staff and that even if only one pharmacist needs an adaptation, it is up to that employer to provide it," said James. Beck of Gordon Thomas. Honeywell LLP, one of Jacobs' lawyers.
Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove was not in agreement.
"We do not think the verdict of the jury is corroborated by the evidence or the legal precedent," he said on Wednesday.
"We respect Ms. Jacobs and thousands of associates do their work with reasonable accommodations. We tried to accommodate Ms. Jacobs. However, the alternatives she had requested were not reasonable.
The jury concluded that Walmart had violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, but had not violated Washington's anti-discrimination law, as claimed by Jacobs in its lawsuit in 2017.
The eight-day trial was held in Tacoma, Washington District District of the United States.
Jacobs, a Port Angeles resident and volunteer, has been a pharmacist in Port Angles and Sequim Walmarts since 2007.
Prior to 2017, Jacobs referred clients of the immunization program to another pharmacist or asked them to return to the pharmacy when the clinic was double-staffed, according to Federal Court documents.
In April 2016, Walmart informed its 16,270 pharmacists that the administration of vaccinations would become an "essential function" in April 2017, according to the complaint.
Jacobs, suffering from cerebral palsy at birth and suffering from multiple sclerosis since 1978, has requested a permanent exemption from the immunization requirement in January 2017.
"I love my job a lot, but I can not control my hands to feel comfortable immunizing the general public," writes Jacobs in his waiver application, which includes a note the doctor in support of his request.
As a goodwill, Walmart proposed to reassign Jacobs but she could not find a non-immunizing position, part-time and without management, not requiring her move, said company lawyers.
Jacobs asked her employer if she could use pen injectors instead of needles and syringes.
"Since my only problem is the dexterity needed to hold a syringe, place the needle and simultaneously inject a vaccine, I think that a reasonable solution is to allow Wal-Mart to use an injector pen, which I can do, "wrote Jacobs. an e-mail to the Regional Director of Health and Welfare of the Company.
Walmart officials said they would not allow Jacobs to use pen injectors because they "are not compatible with vaccines provided by the pharmacy," court documents said.
"Providing vaccines is an essential function for pharmacists in Walmart and the country's leading pharmacy chains," Hargrove said in a telephone interview.
"It is a vital service on which local communities depend."
Hargrove said that the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York decided in 2016 that vaccination is an "essential function" of pharmacists.
"We are looking at our options, including a call," said Hargrove.
Jacobs was informed that she would lose her job due to her inability to vaccinate on February 6, 2017, according to court documents.
She was put on leave without pay on April 15, 2017, Beck said.
"I've been a pharmacist for 40 years," said Jacobs.
"I was pretty devastated when they told me my job was revoked."
Jacobs said that she was not looking for another job in a pharmacy.
She is a volunteer at the Port Angeles Visitor Center, the Port Angeles Food Bank, the Clallam County Volunteer Hospice and the Franklin Elementary School.
________
Journalist Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or to [email protected].
<! –
<! –
->
[ad_2]
Source link