EEOC v. Wal-Mart Stores East, L.P.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit on behalf of a former employee of the defendant alleging that the defendant failed to accommodate the employee, an individual with Down syndrome, after defendant changed its work-scheduling policies. A jury found in favor of the EEOC and awarded compensatory and punitive damages, but the district court denied the EEOC’s request for injunctive relief and the parties filed cross-appeals. The Seventh Circuit affirmed the jury’s liability finding as well as its calculation of damages but vacated and remanded for reconsideration as to the request for injunctive relief, explaining that it was the defendant’s burden to establish that its discriminatory conduct was unlikely to reoccur rather than the EEOC’s burden to show the opposite. (ROVNER and PRYOR, concurring)