AP: Wal-Mart Bias Case Will Go To Trial

[Eugene]

Wal-Mart Bias Case Will Go To Trial
Appeals Court Rules Retail Giant Must Face Lawsuit Alleging Discrimination
Against Female Workers

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 6, 2007

(AP) A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's
largest private employer, must face a class-action lawsuit alleging female employees
were discriminated against in pay and promotions.

The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a 2004 federal judge's
decision to let the nation's largest class-action employment discrimination lawsuit
go to trial. The suit claims that as many as 1.5 million current and former female
employees earned less than men and were bypassed for promotions.

The lawsuit exposes the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailing powerhouse to the possibility
of billions of dollars in damages.

Wal-Mart claimed that the conventional rules of class actions should not apply in the
case because its 3,400 stores, including Sam's Club warehouse outlets, operate like
independent businesses, and that the company did not have a policy of discriminating
against women.

But the court, in a 2-1 decision, disagreed.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/06/business/main2439286.shtml

[OKNancy]

1. kick

[deadparrot]

2. Wal-Mart faces historic sex bias case

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The biggest sexual discrimination case in U.S. history advanced against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Tuesday when a top court ruled that more than a million women could join a suit charging bias in pay and promotions.

The plaintiffs estimate they could win billions of dollars in lost pay and damages and that as many as two million women who have worked for Wal-Mart in its U.S. stores since 1998 could join a class-action lawsuit.

"It is time for Wal-Mart to face the music," Brad Seligman, a lawyer for The Impact Fund, a nonprofit group in Berkeley, California representing the female plaintiffs, told reporters.
Reuters Pictures

"Two courts now have ruled that Wal-Mart is going to have to face a jury ... We fully expect Wal-Mart to keep appealing but we're very confident now that two courts have upheld this (class) certification," he said.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2007-02-07T004622Z_01_N06255418_RTRUKOC_0_US-WALMART-CLASSACTION.xml&rpc=92

[DaveJ]

3. Cool! A Necessary Precedent

I've mentioned this a few times how a friend of mine works at another big box store where every person they selected for their management trainee program was a white male under 25. It's abhorrent how these corporations are able to cavalierly discriminate like it's just the thing to do... and they all take their lead from Wal-Mart the King of Retail.

I don't think people have any idea how badly big box businesses and other corporations, even more than private businesses, discriminate based on age, sex, and whatever else they feel like. I think people have become so accustomed to it that they actually think it's normal! Well, it's not normal. It's morally vacant.

The People must win this.

[TheWraith]

4. Actually, it's mostly not discrimination for its own sake, but rather

The fact that of all the people available, young white males are the most easily conformed into existing business practices, and the most likely to be willing to sacrifice all other obligations to put "achievement" first. In other words, they're looking for people who they can turn into workaholics for the good of the company. Doesn't make it right, but it helps to understand why a multi-billion-dollar company would promote such a policy.

[DaveJ]

5. There are reasons why girls with big boobs are hired too

But it's blatant sexual discrimination. Small businesses sometimes get away with it because of the "how can you prove it" factor. But when you have thousands of employees it's easy to spot a trend in discrimination. Just because there is a profit motive does not make it legal, and it certainly does not make it moral. Corporations, because they are publicly owned, are subject to many government regulations (for instance, the Sarbanes Oxley Act not just applies to financial practices but anything related to business operations, and we can do much more than that), and people need to learn that regulations can be adjusted to benefit the community rather than work against it like they do now. People seem to jadedly think that corporations are natural manifestations that society is powerless to change. People seem to accept the fact that they will be discriminated against on a daily basis and that there's nothing that can be done about it. This is not true at all.