Pharmacist receives $2 million for violation of Massachusetts labor laws

Boston, MAA woman in Boston is receiving $2 million in damages from Wal-Mart after a judge decided that the big box chain breached Massachusetts employment labor laws when it unceremoniously fired her in 2004.

Cynthis Haddad, who had worked in the Pittsfield Wal-Mart as a pharmacist for seven years, claims that she was paid less than her male coworkers as a result of gender discrimination. After receiving a bonus paid to all pharmacy managers, she was reportedly laid off under allegations of negligence according to the Associated Press.

Members of a 2007 jury sided with Haddad in her discrimination suit, awarding her $1 million in compensatory and $1 million in punitive damages.

"There was evidence that Wal-Mart paid the plaintiff substantially less than less-experienced male pharmacists, refused to pay the plaintiff the pharmacy manager salary differential that it paid to male pharmacists, and terminated the plaintiff purportedly for a single policy violation but did not terminate male pharmacists for that or for more serious infractions involving violations of State and Federal law," claims Justice Judith Cowin, the judge who presided over the case.

Employees in Massachusetts are protected from wrongful termination, retaliation and discrimination, by a series of employment labor laws. Employees who feel taken advantage of can file suit against their employer.