For the second time in two weeks, Wal-Mart is being sued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for discrimination, this time for age discrimination. Yvonne Loskot was recently fired after working at Wal-Mart for a decade. She was 67 and worked as an optician for $18 an hour. Wal-Mart claims she was fired because of a "violation of company policy," but were not any more specific.

We talk to lots of workers here at Wake Up Wal-Mart, and many have told us of similar things happening. Wal-Mart officially fires someone for "violating a policy" but they are really trying to save some money. An employee who has been around for ten years makes a lot and gets benefits (as paltry as they are at Wal-Mart). Hiring a new person means a much smaller salary and no benefits for a while.

Here is the article from the St. Louis Business Journal:

De Soto Wal-Mart employee files age discrimination suit

A Wal-Mart in De Soto, Mo., fired a long-time employee because of her age, a new lawsuit alleges.

The complaint, filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Monday, alleges that Wal-Mart terminated Yvonne Loskot, 67, “because she was too old and made too much money,” the commission said.

Loskot, who worked for Wal-Mart for a decade, earned $18 an hour as a certified optician, making her the highest-paid employee in the De Soto store’s optical department.

Wal-Mart said Loskot was fired for other reasons.

"While we do not discuss specifics of personnel decisions, I can tell you this individual was terminated for violation of company policy," said Daphne Moore, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman. "We will review the complaint and respond appropriately."

In fiscal 2007, the commission received 19,103 charges alleging age discrimination, a jump of nearly 3,000 from the previous year.