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Walmart Employee Files Sex-Discrimination Lawsuit Over Uniforms

The female truck driver alleges that she was forced either to wear company-issued men’s uniform pants or pay for the purchase and care of her own if she preferred a women’s fit.

A brewing class-action discrimination lawsuit in Alabama may have a major retailer in hot water.

Diana Webb, a female truck driver for Walmart, the world’s largest company by revenue, wrote in an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint in October that per company policy, drivers are required to wear company-issued uniforms, both tops and bottoms, while on the job. Any deviation from the authorized uniform pieces can result in immediate termination, a policy the company has denied.

Walmart truck

But Alabama-based Webb says there’s a big problem: She alleges that Walmart only foots the purchase and laundering bills for company-issued uniform pieces; while she received women’s uniform tops, she claims Walmart only distributes men’s pants for both men and women. Therefore, if a woman driver prefers a women’s fit, she must cover the cost of purchasing and caring for the garments herself. That amounts to sex discrimination, Webb concludes, since Walmart refused to reimburse her.

“I told them this is not fair,” she said in an interview with AL.com this week. “I told management I feel discriminated against.” She says she expressed her concerns to supervisors and HR in the months before her official complaint, to no avail.

“This is a classic example of nationwide discrimination, or treatment of females differently from males in the workplace simply because they have chosen a traditionally male profession,” Teri Mastando, one of Webb’s attorneys, told Business Insider. “Ms. Webb repeatedly tried to correct this problem internally but with no success and felt this lawsuit was the only option for correcting the discrimination.”

The EEOC gave the go-ahead for Webb to file the class-action lawsuit, which she did earlier this week on behalf of herself and any other female truck drivers who have been negatively affected by Walmart’s uniform policy.

“For female drivers, it is impossible to wear the men’s pants provided by Walmart specifically made to fit only male employees due to anatomical differences between the sexes,” states the lawsuit filed on Jan. 11. “Female drivers are therefore required to either suffer discomfort, or purchase and launder their own pants, out of their own pocket, with no option for reimbursement, in order to fulfill Walmart’s employment requirements.”

The lawsuit claims that Walmart’s policy violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits gender-based discrimination, and also that the company is effectively lining its own pockets by refusing to compensate women for the purchase and care of the garments.

In addition to seeking punitive damages, Webb wants Walmart to pay what she says the company has saved so far in the purchase and care of women’s pants, as well as change the uniform policy so that the firm will compensate female drivers for expenses incurred in maintaining their garments moving forward.

“Walmart is committed to providing our private fleet drivers with various clothing options to meet our guidelines,” said Randy Hargrove, Walmart’s senior director of media relations, in a statement in response to the lawsuit. “No associate, male or female, is required to wear company-provided pants. Months before the lawsuit was filed, Ms. Webb was fitted for company-provided pants, which she now has. We continue to review our clothing offerings for male and female drivers. We take these allegations seriously and will respond in court as appropriate.”

Last month, Walmart was one of nine major retailers and wholesalers, along with Amazon, Kroger, Kraft Heinz and others, ordered by the Federal Trade Commission to give detailed reports on the factors affecting their ability to source and transport their products. Significant supply chain disruption has plagued virtually every industry, including promotional products, for nearly a year.