Wal-Mart Sued for Gender Discrimination, Denying Health Insurance to Gay Employee's Spouse

Following the Supreme Court's ruling on gay marriage – in which it is now legal nationwide in the United States – Wal-Mart is finding itself on the receiving end of a lawsuit due to gender discrimination. The corporation allegedly denied healthcare benefits to a gay employee's spouse, which the employee is saying "violated gender discrimination laws," according to reports.

Wal-Mart employee Jackie Cote said that her wife, Diana Smithson, came down with cancer back in 2012, and "the denial of insurance led to $150,000 in medical debt." Which, of course, hindered Smithson's recovery.

The two were married in Massachusetts back in 2004.

Just last year, Wal-Mart began giving benefits to gay employee's spouses, but it seems around the time of Smithson's cancer, she was denied medical benefits by Wal-Mart.

When the case was brought to the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, The Huffington Post notes that Wal-Mart claimed the anti-discrimination laws did not pertain to "lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees." Which, of course, meant that the company was in no way liable to offer benefits to spouses.

Such a comment brought about the aforementioned gender discrimination lawsuit. Moreover, Cote's lawsuit claimed that a male employee's wife could receive healthcare via Wal-Mart, and even with the change made last year to the healthcare system, "Wal-Mart workers still live with the uncertainty of losing coverage."

The lawsuit states, "Benefits provided by Wal-Mart as a matter of grace ... are not secure and could potentially be withdrawn just when large health care costs are incurred."

Wal-Mart has yet to comment. They've only noted that the company's benefits coverage system before the 2014 change was perfectly legal.

Check out more over on The Huffington Post.