Wednesday, April 28, 2010
A sexual discrimination case against Wal-Mart nearly 10 years old is continuing to move forward, although the merits of the class action lawsuit have yet to be vetted in court.
First filed in 2001, the civil case potentially involved 1.6 million female workers, some of whom contend the nation’s largest retailer paid women less money and offered them fewer promotions. Wal-Mart attorneys have tried to whittle down the number of plaintiffs in the lawsuit, and have partially succeeded.
A 6-5 ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday has reduced the size of the class by eliminating participation of those workers who left the company before 2001. Plaintiffs’ attorneys insist the ruling means more than a million women could be affected by a judgment, while Wal-Mart’s lawyers say the class now has only 500,000 in it.
The company plans to continue trying to reduce the number of plaintiffs by appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Plaintiffs are hoping the case will go to trial sometime later this year.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Appeals Court Upholds Women's Right to Sue Wal-Mart for Alleged Discrimination (by Ylan Q. Mui, Washington Post)
Betty Dukes et al. v. Wal-Mart (Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals) (pdf)
Comments