Jacqueline Cote and Diana Smithson met and fell in love in Cape Cod, Massachusetts?in 1992. They moved to Maine in 1998 and went to work for Walmart in the bakery department. In 2003, they moved to and legally married in Massachusetts just days after same-sex?marriage was legalized. They continued to work for Walmart while in Massachusetts.
Life was good for the couple; in 2006 Jacqueline was promoted to a management job. This position gave her more income. The following year, Diana had to quit her job to help care for Jacqueline’s elderly mother who was suffering from dementia.
Jacqueline tried to put Diana on her health insurance through the Walmart employee website. Everything was going smoothly until it asked for the gender of her spouse. When she tried to select female, the website told her she could not proceed and that she needed to call the corporate headquarters located in Arkansas for further assistance.
Jacqueline said the home office had this to say regarding her inquiry,
?That wasn’t something that they were prepared to offer at this time, ?You’re married to a woman?”
Year after year Jacqueline and Walmart had the same dance when she would apply for health insurance during open enrollment. In 2012, Diana was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and Diana lost the private health insurance that she had been paying for separately. In 2013 the “Defense of Marriage Act” was overturned. Jacqueline decided to call the home office again to apply for coverage. Here’s how the conversation went, according to Jacqueline.
?I would like to add my spouse to my insurance,? she said.
?What is your husband’s name?? she recalls the representative asking.
?My spouse is Diana Smithson.?
?You’re married to a woman?”
And after being put on hold, her request was once again politely denied.
Walmart changed it’s policy in 2014. They now allow same-sex spouses to join its employees’ health insurance plans. However, by that time Diana had already accumulated more than $100,000 in medical expenses.
The couple is currently engaged in a legal battle with the retail giant to get restitution for the medical bills.
If anyone is familiar with the case involving Tracy Morgan, whose limousine was hit by a Walmart truck driver June of 2014, would know that Walmart does not do “the right thing” out of its heart. The company is fighting tooth and nail in both cases to save every penny it?can.
The U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said this week that there was reasonable cause to believe Walmart discriminated against Jacqueline Cote and Diana Smithson.
Walmart will now enter conciliation with the couple; this could mean that Walmart pays for some or all of the medical expenses. If Walmart refuses to pay, Allison Wright — the lawyer for Jacqueline Cote — said her organization, the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, may pursue the matter in federal court.
The ruling by the EEOC says Walmart denies the policy was discriminatory because the company is self-insured, meaning its employees’ premiums go through Walmart, rather than a separate insurance company.
This is yet more very bad publicity for the retail giant that?recently announced that it was investing one?billion dollars out of its hundreds of billions in profits to give some of its associates a long awaited raise. It also has plans to improve its career path program. This may be good news for many employees, but they may want to curb their optimism and consider the nature of some of the legal and civil cases Walmart is involved in.
Hopefully Mrs. Cote and Mrs. Smithson will gain a resolution in their favor.
