Walmart And Sex Discrimination By The Numbers Summary
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Wal-Mart And Sex Discrimination By The Numbers
Dan Ackman, 06.23.04, 9:40 AM ET
NEW YORK - A federal judge in San Francisco yesterday granted class-action status to a sex-discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores, the nation's largest employer. The case, which now covers as many as 1.6 million current and former female Wal-Mart employees, can be decided en masse because it is based on a statistical analysis that shows Wal-Mart paid female workers less and gave them fewer promotions than men.
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U.S. District Judge Martin Jenkins found that attorneys for the six named class representatives, …show more content…
It simply means that all the women have enough in common to be treated as a whole. Wal-Mart had said a class-action of this size and scope would be unmanageable. But the judge--in a ruling Judge Jenkins himself declared was historic--said enough common issues predominate to decide many issues, if not all, in a single …show more content…
This decision sets the stage for women at Wal-Mart to get their fair share of pay and promotions which have been denied them for years," said Joseph Sellers, a lawyer at Washington, D.C. 's Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, which represents the women in the case, in a statement.
Wal-Mart said it would appeal the ruling immediately and that it disputes the premise of the case. "Let's keep in mind that today's ruling has absolutely nothing to do with the merits of the case. Judge Jenkins is simply saying he thinks it meets the legal requirements necessary to move forward as a class action. We strongly disagree with his decision and will seek an appeal," the company said in a statement. In the past it has said that its own analysis of its employment statistics shows no discrimination.
But now a jury may get to decide the impact of those numbers, coupled with testimony of any number of plaintiffs telling their own story.
Wal-Mart reported sales of $256 billion for 2003. It owns and operates more than 3,500 stores in the United States, with that number increasing by more than one store per day. It employs more than 1.2 million employees in the United States, two-thirds women, according to the
Wal-Mart And Sex Discrimination By The Numbers
Dan Ackman, 06.23.04, 9:40 AM ET
NEW YORK - A federal judge in San Francisco yesterday granted class-action status to a sex-discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores, the nation's largest employer. The case, which now covers as many as 1.6 million current and former female Wal-Mart employees, can be decided en masse because it is based on a statistical analysis that shows Wal-Mart paid female workers less and gave them fewer promotions than men.
[pic]
|[pic]More From Dan Ackman | |
| | |
| |
U.S. District Judge Martin Jenkins found that attorneys for the six named class representatives, …show more content…
It simply means that all the women have enough in common to be treated as a whole. Wal-Mart had said a class-action of this size and scope would be unmanageable. But the judge--in a ruling Judge Jenkins himself declared was historic--said enough common issues predominate to decide many issues, if not all, in a single …show more content…
This decision sets the stage for women at Wal-Mart to get their fair share of pay and promotions which have been denied them for years," said Joseph Sellers, a lawyer at Washington, D.C. 's Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, which represents the women in the case, in a statement.
Wal-Mart said it would appeal the ruling immediately and that it disputes the premise of the case. "Let's keep in mind that today's ruling has absolutely nothing to do with the merits of the case. Judge Jenkins is simply saying he thinks it meets the legal requirements necessary to move forward as a class action. We strongly disagree with his decision and will seek an appeal," the company said in a statement. In the past it has said that its own analysis of its employment statistics shows no discrimination.
But now a jury may get to decide the impact of those numbers, coupled with testimony of any number of plaintiffs telling their own story.
Wal-Mart reported sales of $256 billion for 2003. It owns and operates more than 3,500 stores in the United States, with that number increasing by more than one store per day. It employs more than 1.2 million employees in the United States, two-thirds women, according to the