Federal regulators charged Thursday that a new manager of a Walmart store in Placerville stripped a disabled employee of his legal right to park near the store and fired him after he complained.

David Gallo suffers from atrial fibrillation, a heart condition that causes an irregular heartbeat, shortness of breath and loss of leg strength, according to a lawsuit filed in Sacramento federal court by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

An EEOC press release quotes Gallo as saying:

"Letting me park closer to my job was a little thing for Walmart, but would have made a big difference to me. The store manager made me move to the back of the parking lot, even after I showed him my handicap placard. I asked for a simple accommodation, and I lost my job over it."

During his six years at the store, Gallo rose from overnight stocker to manager of the tire/lube express bay, the release states.

Walmart said it accommodated Gallo's disability for years.

"We regularly provide reasonable accommodations to associates with disabilities like Mr. Gallo all over the country, and Walmart has been recognized as a top employer for people with disabilities," Greg Rossiter, Walmart director of corporate communications, said Friday in a statement.

In March 2008, the new manager barred Gallo from parking in the spaces for disabled persons or any other spaces close to the front of the store, and threatened to fire him if he disobeyed the directive, the suit and release allege. Gallo filed a complaint with the EEOC in September 2008, charging his employer with failing to accommodate his disability in violation of the federal Americans With Disabilities Act.

He was fired eight months later, purportedly for an error made by a subordinate, even though the subordinate and the employee who had approved his work were not discharged, according to the suit and release.

Walmart's Rossiter, however, said Gallo was fired for cause.

"Mr. Gallo was terminated from his position due to his performance as a manager of our Tire Lube Express department," he said, declining to give further details.

The EEOC seeks an unspecified amount of monetary damages on behalf of Gallo, plus ADA training at Walmart and steps by the company to prevent this type of discrimination.

In December 2001, the EEOC reached a $6.5 million settlement with Walmart that resolved 13 cases of disability discrimination throughout the country and required the company to hire an ADA coordinator.

"It appears that some store managers still do not understand their obligation to accommodate people with disabilities," EEOC regional attorney William Tamayo said Thursday.

The Placerville store manager is not named in the complaint or the release.

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