(Logo via Walmart’s Facebook; Dani Davis (L) and Amber Janae photo via Davis’ GoFundMe.)
LAKE CITY, Fla. | A cisgender woman, Dani Davis, has gone viral for sharing she was fired from Walmart after being harassed with transphobic remarks in the restroom during her shift on March 14.
Davis is “really tall,” she stated in her Facebook post, just under 6’4″ in height. She is also a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
While she was working her shift, as she had done for seven years, Davis said she stopped to use the restroom. Upon entering the women’s bathroom, she was followed by a man. When she was already locked in a stall, the man began shouting.
“This man was fully IN the restroom, yelling something about ‘tr@nnies’… and how he was gonna ‘beat all those puss!es’ and ‘protect his wife/girlfriend from them,’” Davis recounted in her post.
“I was the only one in there so it seemed pretty clear that he saw me enter the restroom and he assumed that I am trans because of my height.”
During the incident, a woman accompanying the man was also shouting, trying to get him out of the restroom. Although the pair left after a few minutes, Davis recalls feeling paralyzed and that “it felt like forever.”
Upon exiting the bathroom, “my immediate supervisor came by and noticed that I was visibly shaken and emotional,” said Davis.
After collecting herself, she recounted the incident to the supervisor. “Her team leader seemed concerned and empathetic,” Davis’ mother, Amber Janae, noted on their GoFundMe page.
“Less than a week later, I was fired,” said Davis in her post.
Davis added she was told she was terminated because she “didn’t inform a salaried member of management of the incident and that not doing so posed a security risk.” The supervisor Davis confided in after the incident was not a salaried member of management.
This supervisor additionally “didn’t tell Dani to speak to a higher manager or even offer to pull the tapes so Dani can know what this man looked like,” said Janae.
Without providing written documentation of her termination, management asked for her vest, badge and work phone, then dismissed her, according to the account.
“I was the one followed into the bathroom and I was the one who felt threatened and unsafe…. so I get fired for it?” Davis said in her post.
“Because of my height and someone’s ignorance mistaking me for something I’m not, I was now a security risk and they terminated me for it,” she continued.
Davis still works part-time at H&R Block, tutors special needs children and serves as a Notary Public.
“H&R has done their best to support Dani and are providing her with as many extra hours they can for the last few weeks of tax time,” said Janae.
In a statement, Walmart spokesperson Joe Pennington noted the organization wants “our associates to feel safe and supported in their workplace, and we won’t tolerate bullying or threats of violence against our associates or customers.
“We’ve reviewed the situation and will be addressing it internally,” he added. “We’ve also made multiple attempts to invite Ms. Davis to return to work, with back pay.”
Janae updated Davis’ GoFundMe to address this.
“Exactly two weeks after this incident, after speaking out, after going viral, after speaking to news outlets, AFTER being approved for unemployment, AFTER all of this… Walmart offered her job back – with back pay, via email,” Janae wrote. She mentioned Davis would not be returning to her job, as she ”already sticks out like a sore thumb at her height… she’s on the autism spectrum AND she is gay.”
“Being fired so suddenly felt like a stab in the back… and to be let go for being a security risk of all things was just them twisting the knife,” Davis told PinkNews. Living in Florida, she added that “bigotry is unfortunately part of daily life.”
Late last year, Walmart rolled back its DEI policies. This initiative saw Walmart take Pride merchandise off the shelves, discontinue their racial equity training and more.
Janae mentions in a GoFundMe update that Davis “believes she is a victim of loose DEI practices.”
“It was terrifying and I wish no one else ever had an experience like that,” said Davis in her Facebook post. “I have lived here since I was practically a baby- and I feel fear towards the community that helped raise me.” Read her post in full below:
Those interested in supporting Davis can donate at GoFundme.com/f/DaniDavis.
