Wal - Mart wins Largest Sex Bias case in US Supreme Court
IN what is described as "without a doubt the most important class action case in more than a decade”, the US Supreme Court delivered a huge victory to businesses trying to fend off costly class action lawsuits filed by employees.
The opening words of the landmark judgement delivered yesterday by the Supreme Court make interesting reading, especially about Wal-Mart.
The Supreme Court said,
We are presented with one of the most expansive class actions ever. The District Court and the Court of Appeals approved the certification of a class comprising about one and a half million plaintiffs, current and former female employees of petitioner Wal-Mart who allege that the discretion exercised by their local supervisors over pay and promotion matters violates Title VII by discriminating against women. In addition to injunctive and declaratory relief, the plaintiffs seek an award of back pay.
Petitioner Wal-Mart is the Nation's largest private employer. It operates four types of retail stores throughout the country: Discount Stores, Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets, and Sam's Clubs. Those stores are divided into seven nationwide divisions, which in turn comprise 41 regions of 80 to 85 stores apiece. Each store has between 40 and 53 separate departments and 80 to 500 staff positions. In all, Wal-Mart operates approximately 3,400 stores and employs more than one million people.
The named plaintiffs in this lawsuit, representing the 1.5 million members of the certified class, are three current or former Wal-Mart employees who allege that the company discriminated against them on the basis of their sex by denying them equal pay or promotions.
The Supreme Court held that the plaintiffs' claims were worlds away from showing a companywide discriminatory pay and promotion policy. The Court did not find a commonality among the plaintiffs' complaints.