‘Our Little Aunt Jemima’: Elderly Black Woman Sues Former Employer Walmart After Being Fired for Shoplifting Merchandise She Paid for and Allegedly Enduring Racial Harassment

A 71-year-old Black woman is suing Walmart for wrongful termination after the store where she formerly worked summarily fired her for shoplifting items that she had purchased. Her federal lawsuit also claims racial and gender discrimination in its employment practices. Euxucina “Zeana” Girton worked at the Oak Harbor, Washington, Walmart from October 2020 to January 2023, starting as a full-time customer service employee earning $15 an hour, according to her complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Seattle. By March of 2022, Girton was working intermittently as “acting team lead,” a role that included additional responsibilities but that didn’t come with any increase in pay. Over the next eight months, she was twice passed over for promotion to open team lead positions in favor of younger white males and then required to train them to do the job she was already performing, the lawsuit says. LEFT: Euxucina Girton is suing Walmart for wrongful termination and discrimination. RIGHT: Bambi Barr worked at the Oak Harbor, Washington Walmart store with plaintiff Euxucina Girton in 2023. (Photos: Euxucina Girton/Walmart) Both men soon decided to go back to their old positions, one as a cashier and another in...