According to an
article in the St. Petersburg Times, Molly Beavers, a 49 year old disabled woman has been fired from Sam's Club for not smiling enough, even though she suffers from facial paralysis that makes such facial movements excrutiatingly painful.
Beavers, 49, filed an Americans With Disabilities Act complaint in federal court Friday, alleging that Sam's Club and parent company Wal-Mart discriminated against her when they fired her. She claims they knew about her health problems and failed to accommodate her.
A Sam's Club manager fired her in December 2003 for not smiling enough, she says. Beavers' face is partially paralyzed from surgery related to her condition as an achondroplastic dwarf. <snip>
Although partial paralysis has saddled her with a permanent frown, Beavers said she lived for her food demonstration job. <snip>
Beavers said she can't remember the exact date of the surgery that paralyzed her face but that it occurred when she was working at Pace and it was to correct a glandular disorder.
Now, a slight upward curl of her right cheek sends painful muscle spasms shooting down the right side of her lower face. <snip>
She said her problems at work began earlier in 2003, when she tripped in a produce aisle drainage hole and fell to the ground. Her demonstration cart and microwave oven toppled over on her, she said.
Beavers filed a workers' compensation claim. Sam's Club did not process the claim nor pay for treatment, the federal complaint states.
Although Beavers recovered, back problems lingered. When she asked to sit on a stool while working, her manager would not allow it, the lawsuit states.
Beavers said a few older employees were allowed to sit on stools.
Later, when new store manager Ralph Lail fired her, he told her it was because she didn't smile enough at customers and co-workers, the lawsuit states. When Beavers explained her facial paralysis, Lail said, "that's no excuse," according to the federal filing. (emphasis mine.)