Wal-Mart Doesn't Like Pregnant Women

An interesting story/commentary from the Wal-Mart Free NYC Blog:

In California, "A state civil rights agency says Wal-Mart must pay at least $188,000 for refusing to reinstate a manager at its Antioch store after pregnancy leave."

Wal-Mart's crime? Firing a pregnant woman for attempting to exercise her legal right to disability leave. This must be part of their self-hyped diversity drive. Krista Jane Carver was a manager at Wal-Mart, and had worked there from 1996-2002.

"She applied for a month's disability leave in May 2002 after coming down with pregnancy-related diabetes. But when she tried to return the next month, she was told by George Allen, a regional manager, that she had used up all her leave time, had no right to reinstatement and had already been replaced."

No wonder Wal-Mart hates unions! They want to maintain their open door policy: the freedom to show pregnant women the open exit door (unless they're currently locked in the store). Regardless of the law.

Does all this sound familiar? It should: "In 1997, a jury found that Wal-Mart intentionally refused to rehire Ms. Stern because she was pregnant." That time, Wal-Mart was forced to cough up $220,000. If they got caught twice, one can imagine how many times this has actually occured.

Someone should do something about all these pesky laws that keep getting in the way of Wal-Mart's style of business. Or maybe it's time for the government to stop slapping Wal-Mart on the wrist and actually hold them accountable.