WALMART DECISION

I agree with the SC decision. As to part two I have no knowledge as to how WM works.

Hi Forum,

Okay, the Supreme Court decided that a class action lawsuit could not be filed against Walmart for pay and promotion discrimination against women. They did not rule that such discrimination did or did not exist. They simply said that there was not enough in common among plaintiffs to allow them to be a "class." They wil have to pursue whatever claims individually. The problem with this from the standpoint of the women is that many of the claims are not going to yield enough "payback" individually to get a lawyer to take the case.

Part of the news report is below. Two questions: Do you agree with the decision? And regradless of the decision or your feeling about lawyers and "class actions", do you feel Walmart does or does not discriminate against women in pay and promotion?



By James Vicini
WASHINGTON | Mon Jun 20, 2011 5:42pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court threw out on Monday a massive class-action sex-discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the biggest ever such case, in a major victory for the world's largest retailer and for big business in general.
The justices unanimously ruled that more than 1 million female employees nationwide could not proceed together in the lawsuit seeking billions of dollars and accusing Wal-Mart of paying women less and giving them fewer promotions.
The Supreme Court agreed with Wal-Mart, the largest private U.S. employer, that the class-action certification violated federal rules for such lawsuits.
It accepted Wal-Mart's argument that the female employees in different jobs at 3,400 different stores nationwide and with different supervisors do not have enough in common to be lumped together in a single class-action lawsuit.
The ruling was cheered by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce business group as the most important class action case in more than a decade but denounced by women's groups.
It represented a major victory for Wal-Mart, which also has faced legal battles including an attempt to unionize and to block the giant retailer from opening stores in New York and other places.
"We are pleased with today's ruling and believe the court made the right decision. Wal-Mart has had strong policies against discrimination for many years," the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company said in a statement.
Wal-Mart shares were up 18 cents to $53.02 in late trading after rising as much as 1.3 percent earlier in the day. ...