EMPLOYMENT LAW: Federal Court rules the Wal-Mart must Face Class Action Gender Discrimination Suit

April 26, 2010

San Francisco – Wal-Mart has suffered another setback in its battle against a gender discrimination lawsuit that was first filed in a federal court in San Francisco in 2001.

The Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals exposed the retail giant to billions of dollars in damages after ruling 6-5, and told the store that they have to face charges in court about allegations that female workers were paid less compared to male workers for the same jobs.

The lawsuit also claims that female workers get fewer promotions and had to wait longer for those promotions compared to male employees.

The lawsuit was initially filed by six women that seek to represent every female employee in various Wal-Mart stores.

The number of former and current employees involved in the lawsuit is estimated to be more than 1.5 million.

Wal-Mart was able to convince the federal appeals court to review a 2007 ruling and argued that female workers who allege gender discrimination should file individual lawsuits.

They argued that the traditional rule of class action suits should not apply in this case because each outlet operates separately from each other and since they do not have a company-wide discrimination policy, the female workers should file their individual lawsuits against their respective store.

And finally, they argued that class action lawsuit is just too big to defend.

However, the ruling did not go their way.

The judges in the minority expressed dissent over the ruling and Judge Sandra Ikuta wrote in behalf of the other four judges who opposed the decision that there is a good reason why no court has ever certified a class action suit of this size.

But according to Judge Michael Hawkins, who wrote for the majority court, the size of the class action suit does not make it unmanageable.