Suit targets Wal-Mart's former policy barring insurance for same-sex spouses
A Wal-Mart employee contends in a federal lawsuit that the retailer was obligated to provide insurance in 2012 to her same-sex spouse, who has more than $150,000 in medical debt because of ovarian cancer.
The would-be class action (PDF) says the denial of health insurance discriminated against plaintiff Jacqueline Cote on the basis of sex and violated Title VII, report the National Law Journal (sub.req.), the Wall Street Journal Law Blog and Reuters.
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher has represented Wal-Mart in appellate litigation, but it is also associated with marriage equality cases, the National Law Journal points out. It’s unclear if Gibson Dunn will represent the retailer in the Title VII case.
Wal-Mart began offering benefits to domestic partners of its U.S. employees in January 2014. “We have not yet seen the details of the lawsuit,” a Wal-Mart spokesperson said, “and out of respect for Ms. Cote we are not going to comment other than to say our benefits coverage previous to the 2014 update was consistent with the law.”
Cotes is represented by the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders and the nonprofit Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. She received a right-to-sue letter from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in May.
According to Reuters, the EEOC has advanced the argument that workplace bias against gays is a form of gender discrimination, since it would not happen if an employee were of the opposite sex.
