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Loading...Wal-Mart Discrimination Suit: Other People’s Thoughts
Wal-Mart may have low prices, but that may be about to change as the company prepares to deal with the largest class action discrimination lawsuit ever. Via Care2 legal whiz, Jessica Pieklo,
On Monday the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals voted 6-5 along ideological lines to certify a gender discrimination claim against retail giant Wal-Mart, making it the largest class action employment discrimination case ever. The suit alleges that the world’s largest private employer pays women less than men for the same jobs, that female employees receives fewer promotions than their male counterparts and that women need to wait longer for those promotions than men. Attorneys for the plaintiffs believe the class covers more than one million women.
Wal-Mart claims various excuses: as a chain they can’t officially have “systematic” discrimination, it likely only affected half of the people that lawyers say should be involved, etc. But as Jessica puts it:
And taking a step back for a minute, for the sake of argument, even if Wal-Mart’s numbers are more reasonable in terms of potential class members, then we are talking about approximately half of a million women who had the ability to bring home more money for their families but were denied that chance simply because of their gender. In the midst of an economic crisis that has shifted an even greater financial burden onto working women, the toll of such a practice is devastating and has a ripple effect in the overall economy at large.
Jenna Goudreau writes at ForbesWoman:
The suit claims systematic discrimination, charging that female employees were paid less than male employees and received smaller raises and fewer promotions. According to Reuters, the women were steered away from management positions into lower-level jobs without much advancement potential, like cashier jobs. One woman was told she wasn’t qualified for a management position because she was unable to stack 50-pound bags of dog food.
In fact, Walmart management skews male. Women are only 33% of the company’s managers but comprise 65% of hourly employees, reports The New York Times.
The case represents a huge step forward for workplace equality. It draws attention not only to individual cases but to widespread gender discrimination occurring in the company’s 3,000 stores.
The writers at Women’s Views on News are amazed by the tenacity of the plaintiffs, who have been pushing their case through appeals for nearly 10 years, and wonders what sort of inspiration this could provide for other discriminatory businesses.
Walmart have consistently appealed the case and it seems a miracle that Dukes and her lawyers have managed to continue their fight against the retail giant for almost a decade. The women are represented by the nonprofit Impact Fund and several other groups.
In response to the court’s decision, lawyers for Walmart warned of the dangers of allowing the collective case to go ahead.
“This formula is really a recipe for massive litigation against companies around the country,” said Ted Boutrous of the law firm Gibson Dunn.
Let’s hope so, Ted, let’s hope so.
Over at The Pursuit of Harpyness, the writers are much less reserved.
I hope these women, their lawyers, and the courts jack up Wal-Mart’s shit in truly epic fashion. Wal-Mart’s always thrown its size and weight around in order to intimidate everyone from suppliers to union organizers and dissident employees—but with a class-action suit of this magnitude and hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, they’ve finally met their match.
So what effect can this case have on women who shop there? Liz O’Donnell writes over at Hello Ladies about her reaction after learning about the gender discrimination suit.
My usual response to people who tell me about great savings at Walmart has always been “Yes but, at what cost?” As in, “Sure you might save $1.00 on those diapers but at what cost to society?” But this time I said, “Evil times call for the Evil Empire.” After all, that same package of bagels cost $2.99 at BJs and $3.50 at Stop & Shop. That’s a significant price difference.
But now this morning, while I sit her eating my evil bagel, I am reminded why I resisted the store for years….I am not a judge. Walmart hasn’t had its day in court yet. But I can’t imagine the six women who started this process nine years ago, did it for the glory or the payout. And suddenly my cheap bagel doesn’t taste so good. It tastes bitter. Or maybe that’s irony I’m chewing. Here I sit, a victim of pay discrimination, shopping based on price instead of principle.
Read more: womens rights
Photo via Monochrome via flickr
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jumped on the "I hate WalMart" bandwagon. & for those of you who need expensive prescriptions but can't afford them. I hope you appreciate as much as I do the $4.00 & $10.00 prescriptions when the pharmaceutical companies are raking you over the coals. Boo...big bad WalMart. Shame on you for helping people afford the things they need to live.
The unions, who have been trying to unionize WalMart for years & have been unsuccessful, have been behind this propaganda campaign to make WalMart look bad. It is simply not true that WalMart has only offered its employees health insurance in the last couple of years. My mother has worked at WalMart for 20 years & has had health insurance the entire time she has worked there. WalMart is one of the few employers who offer their part time employees health insurance. They have profit sharing & annual bonuses if they meet their goals. Until recently, they had merit increases as well as annual increases. My mother makes over $18.00 per hour in the fabric department. She is not a manager. WalMart provides many jobs in our community & offers products at a price I can afford. It really makes me angry to see people spreading uninformed, inaccurate information about a company that provides more for its employees & community than a lot of employers do. WalMart is also a huge contributor to the Make A Wish foundation so they do their fair share of donating as well. If you don't like where you work, then find another job. WalMart probably needs to be a little more selective when hiring employees & maybe they would find some actually wanting to work for a decent company instead of grumbling about the hours they work in a retail store or the perceived wrongdoings by a company who is suffering from the lawsuit happy mentality of the people in this country who have all
I thought Wal-Mart was reliable, how sexist of them.
Please watch Wal Mart the High Cost of Low Prices and you'll never shop there again.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3836296181471292925
I'd like to say I'm not going to shop at Wal-Mart anymore, but in all honesty I will. If I were myself in a better economic position, I would do differently.
You see ladies, tsk,tsk, can't even stack 50kg dog food bags!
No wonder you donot get promoted.
What utter nonsense!
I wonder how many of the men can do this?
I read in today's newspaper that Wal-Mart wants to take over South Africa's largest supermarket chain Pick-and-Pay.
I hope their lady employees read about the lawsuit and protest vigorously !
Interesting stuff
I hate going to Walmart & won't go there unless I absolutly have to .....Not because of this ,But you just gave me another reaseon why I hate to go there !
I have boycotted WalMart ever since I realized that they sourced their products from third world countries who use child labour.
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