Wal-Mart Waits for a High-Stakes RulingBy Troy Wolverton, TheStreet.com, Inc., September 25, 2003 ABSTRACT
A federal judge in San Francisco heard arguments on September 24, 2003 from Wal-Mart and attorneys representing seven plaintiffs, all women, on whether the sex discrimination suit should receive class-action status. Plaintiffs are seeking certification of a class of 1.6 million current and former female employees of Wal-Mart, potentially making it the largest sex discrimination class action ever. Joseph Sellers, who heads the civil rights practice at D.C.-based Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, P.L.L.C., says that the interest level in the case is very strong and that the plaintiffs' attorneys have heard from thousands of women with similar experiences at Wal-Mart. EXCERPT
The disparities are caused by Wal-Mart's culture, according to the plaintiffs. Although the company tends to promote from within, those who get promoted are most often men. Until recently, the company used a subjective system for promotions, instead of spelling out objective criteria, the plaintiffs say. And rather than posting job openings for management positions so
that anyone could apply for them, the company often kept information about new openings quiet, simply tapping the shoulders of those it wanted to promote, they say. Although the case focuses on the experiences of seven named women, Joseph Sellers, who represents the plaintiffs, said he and his colleagues have heard from "thousands" of women with similar experiences. "We have a large database of women who have contracted us," said Sellers, who heads the civil rights practice at Washington, D.C.-based Cohen Milstein Hausfeld & Toll. "The interest level [in this case] is very strong among current and former women at the company." Wal-Mart currently has 1.4 million employees, according to company spokeswoman Sarah Clark. Clark said she did not know what percentage of Wal-Mart's employees are women. Wal-Mart argues that a class of potentially 1.6 million women would be too unwieldy to manage. Even if it could be managed, the company argues that the experiences of seven women cannot be representative of a class that large. Wal-Mart Supercenters and the company's Neighborhood Market stores represent nearly one-third of the company's stores and employ about half of its workers. But none of the plaintiffs ever worked in either a Supercenter or a Neighborhood Market, the company notes. Meanwhile, the company charges that decisions about pay and promotions are largely made at the store level. |
