A 71-year-old Black woman is suing Walmart for wrongful termination after the store where she formerly worked summarily fired her for shoplifting items that she had purchased. Her federal lawsuit also claims racial and gender discrimination in its employment practices.
Euxucina “Zeana” Girton worked at the Oak Harbor, Washington, Walmart from October 2020 to January 2023, starting as a full-time customer service employee earning $15 an hour, according to her complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Seattle.
By March of 2022, Girton was working intermittently as “acting team lead,” a role that included additional responsibilities but that didn’t come with any increase in pay. Over the next eight months, she was twice passed over for promotion to open team lead positions in favor of younger white males and then required to train them to do the job she was already performing, the lawsuit says.
Both men soon decided to go back to their old positions, one as a cashier and another in the garden department. When Girton asked why she didn’t get the position, Ashika Singh, a female manager, told her, “It was safer having a ‘man’ up front,” her lawsuit claims.
In January of 2023, Girton was promoted to “temporary” team lead and still denied an increase in pay. She claims she was told she’d have to wait another six months to be promoted to a permanent team lead position.
Meanwhile, she claims, a white employee, Bambi Barr, engaged in a campaign of harassment against her. Barr allegedly told Girton, “I don’t talk to people like you,” then said that she “only dated Black men” and that she “hates Black women with power because they think they can tell her what to do.”
When Girton complained about Barr’s statements, which she found discriminatory, her supervisor Singh allegedly responded that Barr could not be racist because she dates Black men and dismissed her concerns as “silly.”
Singh also described Girton as “our little Aunt Jemima” after an incident with a Walmart customer who was acting “belligerent and racist” towards the plaintiff, the complaint says.
Girton complained about not being promoted to a full-time position in January of 2023. A month later, she was escorted to the store manager’s office, where she was accused of shoplifting.
Walmart security manager Michelle Keating confronted her with stills from store surveillance video from Dec. 27, 2022, that showed Girton putting items into a bag. Keating told Girton she knew the plaintiff stole the items because Girton’s Walmart app was not used to buy anything that day.
Girton replied that she had never stolen anything in her entire life, that she must have used another card to buy the items, and that her bank statements would prove it.
Rather than verifying Girton’s explanation with bank records, Walmart fired her on the spot and had Oak Harbor police escort her from the premises, from which she was banned. Barr then posted photos of Girton being escorted from the store by police and posted them on Facebook, according to the complaint.
Barr was later promoted to a team lead position in the store’s apparel section in August 2023, according to a Facebook post on the Oak Harbor Walmart store page.
Following her firing, Girton was indicted for shoplifting, but the charges were dismissed shortly after Plaintiff provided receipts to the prosecutor, the lawsuit says.
“The ordeal was particularly frightening, humiliating, and caused Plaintiff severe distress,” according to the complaint, which charges Walmart with violations of state and federal civil rights laws “on basis of race, age and/or sex.”
Her lawsuit seeks general, special and punitive damages to be determined in a jury trial.
Walmart has 21 days from the lawsuit filing date on Nov. 21 to answer the complaint.
“We don’t tolerate discrimination of any kind,” a Walmart spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Atlanta Black Star. “We are reviewing the complaint and will respond appropriately to the Court.”
