Employment Sexual Discrimination: Wal-Mart Asks High Court to Halt Proceedings in Largest Discrimination Class Suit

August 25, 2010

San Francisco – Retail giant Wal-Mart has filed a petition with the US Supreme Court Wednesday to halt the large sex-discrimination class action suit brought by its women workers, reports said.

The appeal was based on an April ruling of the 9th US Court of Appeals which allowed the lawsuit to proceed and authorized the class action. The workers charged that Wal-Mart allegedly practiced widespread discrimination in its pay and promotion practices.

The lawsuit involved more than 1 million women workers of the store and could also involved billions of dollars in damages.

Wal-Mart however issued a statement which said that the 9th Circuit’s opinion dealt only with class certification and not with the merits of the lawsuit. In the appeal, Wal-Mart said the appellate court’s ruling is detrimental to business.

A lawyer representing the women workers said the appeal was just an attempt to deny the workers their day in court.

The litigation has been going through the federal courts of California for nine years, including six at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The case is Dukes v Walmart in 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, 04-16688.