A former Oak Harbor Walmart employee is claiming discrimination and wrongful termination in a federal lawsuit against the corporation.

Euxucina Girton filed a complaint and jury demand in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on Nov. 11. She is represented by attorney Matthew Bean of Seattle.

The complaint identified Girton as a 71-year-old Black woman who worked at the Oak Harbor store from 2020 until 2023. She was initially hired as a full-time customer service employee at $15 an hour.

Girton is asking for general, special and punitive damages.

A spokesperson for Walmart provided a brief statement.

“We don’t tolerate discrimination of any kind,” the spokesperson said in an email. “We are reviewing the complaint and will respond appropriately to the Court.”

The complaint states that Girton was twice passed over for promotion in favor of younger white males and then forced to train the men to do the job after she worked as “acting team leader” for months on end without any increase in pay.

In one case, a “front-end coach” told Girton that it was safer to have a man work up front, the lawsuit states. After Girton trained one of the men, he declined the job and went back to the garden department. The job was then given to another man who again declined the job after she trained him, the lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit alleges that a white, female employee engaged in a campaign of harassment against Girton. The woman allegedly told Girton that she hates Black women with power because “they think they can tell her what to do,” the lawsuit states. When Girton complained to her superior, she was told she was being “silly” because the woman dates Black men, the lawsuit states.

The complaint alleges that the front-end coach called Girton “our little Aunt Jemima” after an incident with a Walmart customer who was belligerent and racist.

About a month after she complained about not getting promoted, Girton was called to the manager’s office and accused of shoplifting. The security manager had stills from a store surveillance video that showed Girton putting items into a bag. The security manager allegedly said she knew Girton stole the items because her Walmart app was not used to buy anything on that day.

Girton “replied that she must have used another card and her bank statement would prove it because she never stole anything in her entire life.”

But rather than verifying Girton’s story by looking at bank records, Walmart officials fired her and had Oak Harbor police officers escort her from the premises, the lawsuit states. The woman who had allegedly harassed Girton took photos of her being escorted by police and posted them on Facebook, according to the complaint.

The city prosecutor charged her with theft, the lawsuit states, but the charges were dismissed shortly afterward when Girton provided receipts of her purchases.

The lawsuit argues that the Girton’s ordeal was particularly frightening and humiliating and caused severe emotional distress.