A huge sex discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart, now a decade old, will be heard before the U.S. Supreme Court today, as the retail giant tries to minimize the number of employees involved in the civil case.

 

Plaintiffs first filed their case in 2001, contending that the nation’s largest retailer pays women less money and offers them fewer promotions than their male counterparts. Wal-Mart is accused of having corporate policies and practices that encourage stereotyping of women, many of whom contend they’ve been called “Janie Qs” and told to wear cosmetics and “doll up.”

 

The Supreme Court is being asked by Wal-Mart to trim the number of plaintiffs involved in the case, which at one time numbered 1.6 million female workers. The company won a lower court ruling that said former employees who left before 2001 could not be party to the lawsuit. Wal-Mart officials want the lawsuit decertified as a class-action case, which would further reduce the number of those suing.

 

According to the plaintiffs, women employees at Wal-Mart earn an average of $5,000 a year less than men in comparable positions with comparable seniority. Women waited 4.38 years from date of hire for promotion to assistant manager compared with 2.86 years for men, and 10.12 years before being promoted to store manager compared with 8.64 years for men.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Wal-Mart v. Dukes - Why the Supreme Court Should Stand with Working Women (National Women’s Law Center)

Women Take Case against Wal-Mart to Highest Court (by Joan Biskupic, USA Today)

Wal-Mart v. Dukes Overview (SCOTUSblog)

Court Rules Women Can Sue Wal-Mart for Sex Discrimination (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Betty Dukes v. Wal-Mart (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit) (pdf)