WUNRN
USA - WAL-MART WOMEN EMPLOYEES FILE
LARGEST CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT
By
Susan V. Stromberg
June 29, 2010
Over a million current and former Wal-Mart female employees allege gender
discrimination in a single lawsuit. In this news analysis, Susan Stromberg
explains what it will take for them to get together before the courts this
summer.
(WOMENSENEWS)--More than one million current and former Wal-Mart female
employees alleging gender discrimination stand to be certified this summer as
the largest civil rights class action in history.
Their fate
lies with the U.S. Supreme Court, which will be asked to decide whether a small
group of employees' claims of sex discrimination are indicative of a
company-wide policy or just isolated incidents. If the High Court does not hear
the case, a lower court's ruling will stand and the trial against Wal-Mart will
proceed on behalf of the million-plus plaintiffs.
It's a
case of enormous importance for women in the paid work force across the
country, says Fatima Goss Graves, vice president for education and employment
at the Washington-based National Women's
"The
conduct alleged in the Wal-Mart litigation highlights that current law fails to
provide adequate deterrence and sufficient tools to address widespread pay
discrimination in the workplace," said
In
a case nearly a decade old, six female Wal-Mart employees sought certification
to represent more than one million female employees in a lawsuit alleging
gender discrimination in violation of federal law.
The claim
of these six women is supported by 120 documented incidents from other female
employees. In their suit, the six assert that they were paid less than men in
comparable positions, despite higher performance ratings and greater seniority,
and that they received fewer--and waited longer for--promotions than men.
Following
an April decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the class will
encompass all women employed by Wal-Mart at any time since June 8, 2001, when
the lawsuit was first filed, and may possibly date back to December 26, 1998,
pending clarification by the lower court.
The Ninth
Circuit ruling certifying the class focused on whether the accusations made by
these six women would be common to all female Wal-Mart employees, as is
necessary for class certification.
Wal-Mart,
headquartered in
Before
those allegations can be considered on the merits fully, the courts must first
decide whether the million women represented by the six plaintiffs can hang
together now that Wal-Mart plans to petition the Supreme Court for review.
The issue
of class certification is governed by detailed and complicated procedural rules
that will determine whether the million stay as part of the Wal-Mart case.
If the
Supreme Court either decides not to hear the case or hears the case and agrees
with the class certification, the lawsuit will go back to the lower court for a
trial to determine if Wal-Mart discriminated against its female employees.
However,
if the Supreme Court accepts review and overturns the class certification, each
of the million possible plaintiffs would need to file individual lawsuits to
raise any claims of discrimination.
Wal-Mart
attorney Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr., of the New York-based law firm Gibson, Dunn
and Crutcher, is hoping the High Court will take the case and undo the class
certification.
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