Gay discrimination at Vegas Wal-Mart?

[ColdClimate]

Walmart Employee Forced to Wear Yellow Vest After Telling Boss He's Gay

A Las Vegas man who held a temporary job at Walmart says he was stripped of all his responsibilities and made to wear a yellow vest after telling his manager that he's gay.

Fernando Gallardo has filed a complaint with the Nevada Equal Rights Commission claiming that his boss at a Vegas-area Walmart confronted him about his sexuality, and then began treating him rudely and alienated him from co-workers after learning Gallardo was gay, reports The Advocate.

"I was completely ignored and shunned," he wrote in a complaint to the rights commission. "I had nothing to do all day but wander around the store wearing a yellow vest no one else had to wear, much like Jews had to wear a yellow star of David in Hitler's Germany."

The Advocate reports that within two months of Gallardo's forced admission, "his supervisor and two other managers stopped talking to him completely."

Gallardo, who no longer works at the Walmart location, also claims the store management attempted to "bribe" some of the other temporary workers at the location with permanent jobs in exchange for claiming that Gallardo had offered up the information about his sexual orientation voluntarily.

A Walmart spokesman, Phil Keene, said that Gallardo's yellow uniform may have been nothing unusual.

"It is my understanding that the former associate was a temporary hire while the store is under remodeling," Keene told The Advocate. "Between the 50 or so temporary associates in that store, there is a rotation through the position of 'May I Help You' associate. The several associates in this role wear a vest so customers can identify them and ask for help in finding products that may have been temporarily moved to a new spot."

However, Gallardo claims he was the only one made to wear the vest, and that he was only told to wear it after his sexual orientation became known to his superiors.

While Walmart has an official policy against discrimination, the world's largest retailer has recently been embroiled in a massive lawsuit accusing it of gender bias.

A federal court recently allowed a class-action suit to go forward against the company. Lawyers for the plaintiffs say Walmart systematically paid its female employees less than their male counterparts, and put fewer women up for promotion.

Wow.....I'm kind of amazed that this kind of thing still goes on in North AMerican in 2010...

 

[Cull]

Not surprised.

 

[useless]

Queue certain posters comming in and defending this and claiming political correctness is what is causing those to be outraged at this incident rather then the obvious bigotry

 

[Quackers]

Que?

 

[Disgustipated]

Queue certain posters comming in and defending this and claiming political correctness is what is causing those to be outraged at this incident rather then the obvious bigotry

I'm claiming authenticity. It's not on our local news. I have never heard of this.

 

[aronnax]

I'm claiming authenticity. It's not on our local news. I have never heard of this.

Well, a simple google search shows that there is only one news source for this story at "advocate.com" which reads to be a left-leaning site.

Nevertheless, it is hardly surprising if this turns out to be true.
You got plenty of thick people when it comes to Walmart.

 

[MobBoss]

I had nothing to do all day but wander around the store wearing a yellow vest no one else had to wear

Wow.....I'm kind of amazed that this kind of thing still goes on in North AMerican in 2010...

Wear a yellow vest...get paid for doing nothing. I dont see the issue here....

 

[Communisto]

Wear a yellow vest...get paid for doing nothing. I dont see the issue here....

trolling right... right? Please?

 

[Bugfatty300]

Queue certain posters comming in and defending this and claiming political correctness is what is causing those to be outraged at this incident rather then the obvious bigotry

Well I take every outrageous story attributed to Wal-Mart with a grain of salt ever since the whole ICE raids stuff.

Sorry if you take that as a defense of bigotry.

 

[MobBoss]

trolling right... right? Please?

No, its not trolling. If I had a job that paid me for doing nothing, I would think it a pretty sweet deal.

Wouldnt you?

 

[Communisto]

No, its not trolling. If I had a job that paid me for doing nothing, I would think it a pretty sweet deal.

Wouldnt you?

But that isn't the issue. The issue is the clear, illegal discrimination.

I mean... you do understand that right?

 

[warpus]

No, its not trolling. If I had a job that paid me for doing nothing, I would think it a pretty sweet deal.

Wouldnt you?

You wouldn't mind if all the Christians in your workplace were forced to wear an identifying mark?

Sir, you dissapoint me.

 

[MobBoss]

But that isn't the issue. The issue is the clear, illegal discrimination.

I mean... you do understand that right?

Oh, things are never clear unless all sides of the story are known.

We only know 1 side in this case.

Also, I think everyone has seen people wearing those Walmart Vests with the huge yellow smily on it, which is what I think this guy is referring to (honestly)...and it is exactly what those people wear that wander the store asking you if you have found everything ok.

So, if this guy was simply made to wear a vest with a yellow smiley on it, like everyone else, then no, its not clear, or illegal discrimination.

Now if they made him wear a huge neon yellow vest that screamed look at me I'm gay, you might have a point. But we cant determine that from a news article with no pictures, and only 1 side of the story given.

You wouldn't mind if all the Christians in your workplace were forced to wear an identifying mark?

Sir, you dissapoint me.

As a christian, I wouldnt mind wearing such identification at all, since I already tell everyone I am a christian anyway. And if I got paid more for wearing it, so much the better.

In fact, in my workplace, they do make some christians wear those marks. They are called chaplains.

 

[Benefactor]

While it is discrimination (if true) and it shouldn't happen, I couldn't help but think "paid for doing nothing, sounds pretty sweet."

Plus, he could use all that paid unsupervised free time to start up a lawsuit and find another job.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Wow.....I'm kind of amazed that this kind of thing still goes on in North AMerican in 2010...

Didn't you see the recent thread that the Texas Republicans are trying to bring back sodomy laws even after they were ruled to be unconstitutional? You can expect homophobia to be rampant in the US for quite some time.

Well I take every outrageous story attributed to Wal-Mart with a grain of salt ever since the whole ICE raids stuff.

Sorry if you take that as a defense of bigotry.

You can't very welll dismiss the fact that Walmart contracted with private companies to provide undocumented immigrants at a number of their stores to clean them and all the other reports of their misdeeds merely because they didn't "authorize" the INS to enter their stores. That seems rather disingenuous to me.

Here's some more details along with a photo of the "perp".

http://www.queerty.com/just-how-bad-was-walmarts-gay-yellow-vest-20100621/

Granted, Walmart doesn't have the most sterling record when it comes to treating gays well: The CEO supported a gay adoption ban in Arkansas, a Chicago area store once harassed and arrested two gay dads, and the company scored a whopping 40 our of 100 in the HRC's Corporate Equality Index Ratings. But one ex-employee also says the store has a specific non-discrimination policy which plainly includes sexual orientation, that they extend domestic partner and gay marriage spousal benefits to those in the states where they are legal (sort of half-assed), and that they once faced a boycott from over-zealous conservatives for joining the Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. (This handy chart shows the company's timeline.)

That's not to excuse Walmart. If Gallardo's boss is as anti-gay as he says, it behooves the retail giant to step up and deal with her or face legal action — including violating its own non-discrimination policies.

 

[MobBoss]

Didn't you see the recent thread that the Texas Republicans are trying to bring back sodomy laws even after they were ruled to be unconstitutional?

This happened in Vegas...not Texas.

Anyway, here's some more details along with a photo of the "perp".

Odd how this hasnt been picked up by any of the major media yet. I wonder why?

But what am I thinking. That guy looks like a model employee. I can just see the surly face adding to the 'can I help you' vibe adding to customer appeal. Oh well, I guess he could always change his line from 'can I help you' to 'you want fries with that' and go on his merry way.

 

[kosiosko 1]

Its simple to check this out ... do other stores have people in yellow vest wandering around

a pink vest would definitely be discrimination, but i wear a yellow vest most days at work,
come to think of it most other workers have fluro pink vests ... am i missing something

 

[warpus]

As a christian, I wouldnt mind wearing such identification at all, since I already tell everyone I am a christian anyway. And if I got paid more for wearing it, so much the better.

But you get why it is completely unacceptable to force someone to wear an identifying mark like that, RIGHT?

Do you remember WW2? And how the Jews were forced to wear identifying marks? And how that was bad? And the reasons why?

I don't know, maybe they didn't teach you that in school *shrug*

 

[MobBoss]

But you get why it is completely unacceptable to force someone to wear an identifying mark like that, RIGHT?

Do you remember WW2? And how the Jews were forced to wear identifying marks? And how that was bad? And the reasons why?

I don't know, maybe they didn't teach you that in school *shrug*

I get it sure.

I also get that not everything someone claims is always true. But hey, if you want to assume such stories given over the fringe media as being 100% accurate and true, then thats your business I guess.

My highschool taught me to withhold judgement until all the facts are in. *shrug*. Didnt they teach that in your school as well?

 

[Formaldehyde]

This happened in Vegas...not Texas.

Well, duh. I guess you missed the part where I quoted his comment that specifically said North America.

Odd how this hasnt been picked up by any of the major media yet. I wonder why?

Because it can't possibly be true if nobody else has picked up on it yet?

But what am I thinking. That guy looks like a model employee. I can just see the surly face adding to the 'can I help you' vibe adding to customer appeal. Oh well, I guess he could always change his line from 'can I help you' to 'you want fries with that' and go on his merry way.

So it's perfectly fine to engage in illegal discrimination if you or someone else doesn't like how someone looks from a single photo? And that "surly faces" don't belong in Walmart but McDonalds instead? Is that what you are insinuating here?