DISABILITY: Woman sues, says store put her on leave rather than give her a break from standing.
Anchorage resident Barbara Flory believes her paralysis and back problems shouldn't prevent her from doing her job.
Flory, 66, has greeted Wal-Mart customers for nearly 13 years -- the last six at Anchorage's Old Seward Highway store.
But now she's battling the company over her job. She's filed a discrimination complaint against Wal-Mart with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Flory also has asked a federal district judge in Anchorage to put her back to work. She's been on unpaid medical leave since last July while the employment commission evaluates her discrimination claim.
The crux of her case: Flory repeatedly asked Wal-Mart to let her sit in a stool for a few minutes each hour and push fewer carts.
Wal-Mart denied her requests, and after she asked for reconsideration last July, the company put her on medical leave, she said.
Flory claims Wal-Mart retaliated against her and didn't give her request proper consideration.
Wal-Mart declined to discuss Flory's case while it's under litigation.
A company official pointed out, however, that Wal-Mart is a leading employer of people who have disabilities.
"We work to accommodate all reasonable requests from associates with disabilities, whether that may be an alteration of a work space or providing special equipment that may make jobs more efficient and comfortable," Janis Arms, the Wal-Mart spokeswoman, wrote in an e-mail.
The federal Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers to accommodate workers' disabilities as long as those adjustments don't pose an undue hardship on the company.
The disabled worker must be able to continue to perform the essential functions of the job, according to the act.
MORE THAN SAYING HELLO
Wal-Mart greeters do more than just say hello to customers as they enter the store. Greeters also fetch shopping carts, check receipts and help prevent shoplifting.
Flory said she can do her job, and she doesn't understand why the stool is a sticking point.
Losing her Wal-Mart income has been difficult, Flory said recently.
Her small pension and Social Security checks cover only her most basic living expenses, she said.
Flory's disability struck when she was at the prime of her life.
After years spent as a stay-at-home mom living in Ohio, Flory landed a career in law enforcement. She worked her way up the ladder to become an Ohio sheriff's deputy.
But in 1986, while she was in her 40s, Flory was struck down by an aneurysm that triggered a stroke. She's been partially paralyzed on the left side of her body ever since, according to her court filings.
After hospitalization and physical therapy, Flory re-entered the workforce with a disability -- she walks slowly and she doesn't have full use of her left arm.
In 2000, she took a job as a Wal-Mart greeter, she said.
After her sons moved to Alaska, she moved up, too. She took a greeting job at the Old Seward Highway Wal-Mart, she said.
LEG AND BACK PAINS
Flory's problems at work began about 10 months ago, when she started feeling intense shooting pains in her back and legs. The diagnosis from her doctor: a pinched nerve and herniated disc.
Flory keeps a stool in her kitchen in a senior-living apartment complex, just a half-mile from the Wal-Mart store. The pain subsides if she just sits a few minutes, she said.
Wal-Mart employs wheelchair-bound greeters in the Lower 48, and according to Flory's filings in federal court, the company has also employed at least one disabled greeter in Anchorage who needed assistance with pushing carts.
Flory said she doesn't need a wheelchair. "I told (Wal-Mart) I could bring my own stool," she said.
RETAILERS AND GREETERS
A key factor in deciding whether Flory's request is reasonable is whether granting it would mean she can't fully do the job, disability law experts said last week.
Her case is not unique, disability experts said recently.
"She's healthy enough to work, but she can't," said Ruth Colker, a constitutional and disability discrimination law professor at Ohio State University.
"Should the Americans with Disabilities Act help her? Absolutely. She should be able to have employment," said Colker, adding that she doesn't know enough details to have an opinion about the strength of Flory's EEOC case.
It's likely that conflicts over workplace accommodations will become more common as the U.S. workforce ages, said Jim Beck, executive director of Access Alaska, a nonprofit organization that helps disabled Alaskans function independently at home and at work.
"We take a lot of calls from employers and (workers) who have this conundrum," Beck said.
Sometimes disabled workers are afraid to assert their rights or ask for modifications to their work environment because they are worried it will hurt their performance evaluations, he said.
MULTIPLE VENUES FOR GRIPE
Flory wasn't that timid. She's fighting Wal-Mart on multiple fronts -- in federal court and with her discrimination complaint.
In federal court filings, Wal-Mart recently asked a judge to dismiss her request to be reinstated in her greeter job.
The company's attorneys argued that the law requires workers to complete the EEOC process before suing in federal court.
A ruling from the judge is expected at any time, said Flory's attorney, Meg Allison of the Disability Law Center of Alaska, which is not charging a fee to represent her.
Daily News reporter Elizabeth Bluemink can be reached at ebluemink@adn.com or 257-4317.
