Wal-Mart Hit With Class Action For Denying Health Insurance to Spouses of Gay Employees

A Wal-Mart Stores Inc. employee who is in a same-sex marriage has filed a class action lawsuit against the retail giant for allegedly discriminating against her due to her sexual orientation by denying health insurance coverage to her spouse.

Plaintiff Jacqueline A. Cote filed her Wal-Mart class action lawsuit in a Massachusetts federal court on Tuesday with the help of attorneys from Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders and the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.

The class action lawsuit lawsuit filed on behalf of gay workers is the first of its kind since the recent Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage.

Cote claims before Wal-Mart changed its policy in January 2014, the retailer had refused to provide health insurance benefits to her spouse Dee Smithson along with other spouses of Wal-Mart employees who are also in same-sex marriages.

The Wal-Mart employee explains in her class action lawsuit that the reason why the retail giant wouldn’t provide health insurance to her spouse is because her marriage does “not conform to Wal-Mart’s gender-based stereotypes that a woman should only be married to man and that a man should only be married to a woman.”

She argues in the Wal-Mart class action lawsuit that if she had been married to someone of the opposite sex that the retail giant would have given her spouse health benefits as it does with such spouses of the opposite sex.

Before filing this class action lawsuit Cote says that she followed all administrative remedies to rectify the situation.

To that end, she filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on Sept. 18, 2014 for discriminating against her based on her sexual orientation based on the Civil Rights Act and Massachusetts own Fair Employment Practices Law.

In a ruling the EEOC issued on Jan. 29, the federal commission said that Wal-Mart’s denial of health insurance to Cote’s spouse does “constitute discrimination on the basis of her sex, female.”

The EEOC explained further that Cote “was subjected to employment discrimination in that she was treated differently and denied benefits because of her sex, since such coverage would be provided if she were a woman married to a man.”

On May 29, the EEOC sent Cote a letter stating that she has a “Right to Sue” Wal-Mart within 90 days of receiving the letter.

Cote says in her class action lawsuit that she has worked for Wal-Mart since April 1999, but in June she began a leave of absence so she could care for her spouse who is suffering from ovarian cancer. Cote plans to return to work after her period of leave.

Smithson is a former Wal-Mart employee, who worked for the retail giant from 1999 until 2008, when she quit to help take care of Cote’s mother, who was suffering dementia.

When she lost her health insurance after leaving Wal-Mart, she first paid for COBRA health insurance coverage. When that ran out she purchased an individual health insurance policy. Cote explains that it was imperative that Smithson have health insurance because she had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995.

In 2012, Smithson was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and has faced numerous treatments, including chemotherapy, and has been in and out of the hospital since that time as well.

As a result, Cote claims that the couple has medical bills to the tune of $150,000 for Smithson’s treatments.

While Wal-Mart did change its policy in January 2014, allowing gay employees to add their spouses to their insurance plans, Cote claims that the discrimination before that change led to the massive debt they owe.

The two had been legally married in Massachusetts in 2004, the same year gay marriage became legal in the commonwealth.

The Wal-Mart gay rights class action lawsuit claims that the retail giant has violated the federal Civil Rights Act, the federal Equal Pay Act, and the Massachusetts Fair Employment Practices Law.

Cote is looking to represent a class of same sex Wal-Mart employees who were also denied coverage for their spouses before Jan. 1, 2014.

Plaintiffs are represented by Peter Romer-Friedman of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and Gary Buseck and Allison W. Wright of Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders.

Counsel information for Wal-Mart was not immediately available.

The Wal-Mart Gay Marriage Health Insurance Class Action Lawsuit is Jacqueline A. Cote v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Case No. 1:15-cv-12945, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

UPDATE: On Dec. 16, 2016, a $7.5 million class action settlement between Walmart and workers denied same-sex spouses’ benefits is on track for preliminary approval, a Massachusetts federal judge has indicated. U.S. District Judge William Young said that the settlement was “exemplary” and the only thing he would modify is the calculation of attorneys’ fees.

UPDATE 2: The Walmart Same-Sex Spouse Benefits Class Action Settlement is now open! Click here to file a claim.