Court upholds $2m award to Wal-Mart pharmacist

Associated Press

The highest court in Massachusetts has upheld a $2 million jury award to a former pharmacist at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. who claimed she was fired by the retail chain after asking to be paid the same as her male colleagues.

Cynthia Haddad was fired in 2004 after more than 10 years at a Wal-Mart store in Pittsfield. In 2007, a jury found that the company discriminated against Haddad, and awarded her $1 million in compensatory damages and another $1 million in punitive damages. A judge later revoked the $1 million award for punitive damages.

Today the Supreme Judicial Court reinstated the punitive damages and upheld the total $2 million award.

Wal-Mart claimed Haddad was fired because she allowed a technician to use her computer security code to issue prescriptions during her absence.