Provost Umphrey Lawyer Brings Suit Against Wal-Mart for Age & Race Discrimination
BEAUMONT, Texas, June 26, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Provost Umphrey attorney Jane Swearingen Leger, along with Jill Swearingen Pierce of Bradley, Steele & Pierce, LLP and Clay Dugas of Clay Dugas and Associates, filed suit against Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. in Lake Charles, Louisiana on behalf of six plaintiffs alleging they were wrongfully terminated from Wal-Mart based on their age and race. Combined, the plaintiffs had over 100 years worth of work history with Wal-Mart stores.
The lawsuit comes just days after Wal-Mart decided to pull all items with the Confederate flag from their stores and online. While Wal-Mart decided to pull the products based on rising racial tensions, the plaintiffs are all black and over 40 years of age. According to the petition, the plaintiffs have exhausted all of the administrative remedies available to them. The plaintiffs have all filed a Charge of Discrimination with Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as well as the Louisiana Workforce Commission.
Plaintiffs' claims involve the discriminatory practices of Wal-Mart through its store manager, Leah Loerwald. Clay Dugas has previously tried an employment discrimination case against Wal-Mart. In that case, the jury agreed that Wal-Mart unlawfully discriminated against a Texas employee based on the conduct of Mrs. Loerwald. Instead of terminating Mrs. Loerwald after the jury's finding of illegal discrimination, Wal-Mart simply transferred her to a store in Lake Charles, Louisiana where she continued her discriminatory practices.
"It's very telling of Wal-Mart's culture when a jury finds that a store manager illegally discriminated against a long-term employee, and the manager is not terminated or even disciplined. Instead, the manager was transferred to another store where she continued her illegal conduct," says Leger.
Leger is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law and practices personal injury, maritime and employment law. She represents individuals who have been injured in industrial settings, vehicle collisions or suffered the results of discriminatory conduct. Her cases include clients in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, California, Florida and Minnesota. Most recently Leger obtained a historic settlement for a client injured in a Georgia-Pacific boiler explosion accident in Georgia.
For more than forty years, Provost Umphrey's mission has remained to seek justice for those most in need – those who have suffered a personal injury or death due to the wrongful conduct of others. Our attorneys fight for our clients nationwide with offices in Beaumont and Houston, Texas and Nashville, Tennessee. Led by Walter Umphrey, Provost Umphrey continues to be one of the most successful trial law firms in the nation by remaining Hard-Working Lawyers for Hard-Working People.
SOURCE Provost Umphrey Law Firm, LLP
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