New Class Action Lawsuit Alleging Gender Discrimination by Wal-Mart Filed in California
On October 25th, new class action alleging gender discrimination by Wal-Mart was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The United States Supreme Court filed the suit following a dismissal of a nationwide class action lawsuit.
Cases like this are important to firms like the Spencer Law Group—a California-based law firm composed of helpful and experienced attorneys who specialize in Class Action Lawsuits, including those filed on the grounds of employment discrimination.
Suit Dismissed Because Class Members Lacked Commonality
In the initial class action lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged that Wal-Mart’s pattern of gender discrimination with matters related to pay and opportunities for promotion affected more than 90,000 current and former employees nationwide. This suit originated in 1999 after Stephanie Odle was fired after complaining that the company had discriminated against her because of her gender. Odle complained to Wal-Mart management after she learned that a male employee with the same job title was earning $23,000 more per year despite having less experience.
The Supreme Court rejected the initial lawsuit, claiming that the class was not bound by a specific commonality. According to the court’s dismissal, a class action lawsuit cannot be made up of a collection of individual claims. In order to be certified as a class, plaintiffs must identify a question of law or fact that is common to all of the potential class members. The court ruled that the nationwide class of plaintiffs was too broad to be certified as a cohesive class, and that the individuals’ involved lacked commonality that was representative of all class members.
New Lawsuits Filed
After the dismissal by the Supreme Court, several new class actions have been filed, representing smaller classes of employees. Similar suits have been filed in Tennessee, Texas, California and Florida.
The Texas lawsuit was dismissed earlier in October after the judge ruled that the suit was barred by the statute of limitations. No decision has been made regarding the viability of the lawsuits filed in Tennessee and Florida. United States District Judge Charles Breyer of California allowed the lawsuit to proceed, stating that a class limited to current and former California employees could be certified. The California class excludes store managers and pharmacists.
California’s Class Action Suit
According to the California suit, women who have seniority and higher performance ratings than similarly situated male employees regularly earn less money than their male counterparts. This income disparity occurs regularly even when objective factors such as seniority, store location and performance are considered. Managers are not required to base pay rates on objective matters. Rather, they are authorized to make wage and salary determinations based on their own criteria. These policies have had a disproportional adverse impact on female employees.
The plaintiffs allege that more than 90,000 women who are current and former employees of Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores in California have been adversely affected by the company’s policies.
Betty Dukes, the lead plaintiff in the suit that was dismissed by the Supreme Court, is an African American woman who worked at a Wal-Mart store in Pittsburg, California. Four other plaintiffs are named in the lawsuit. They allege that they were asked to take on extra responsibilities without receiving extra pay. They claim that positions they were qualified for were consistently given to men with less experience. The plaintiffs also allege that, once they complained about the discriminatory treatment, the management retaliated against them. They are seeking punitive damages and injunctive relief.
