Walmart Faces Lawsuit Alleging Gender Discrimination In California Stores

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Women pursuing discrimination claims against Wal-Mart filed a reformulated lawsuit Thursday alleging the world's largest retailer treats its female workers in California unfairly.

Plaintiffs alleging that the company denied them pay raises and promotions because of gender bias are regrouping after the U.S. Supreme Court dismantled a class of up to 1.5 million current and former Wal-Mart workers in June.

The high court accepted Wal-Mart's argument that the female employees in different jobs at 3,400 stores nationwide and with different supervisors do not have enough in common to be lumped together in a single class-action lawsuit.

Plaintiff attorneys have said they would respond with more narrowly tailored lawsuits.

The filing Thursday in a San Francisco federal court says a proposed class of California plaintiffs exceeds 45,000 women.

``Each plaintiff has worked in Wal-Mart's California regions and has been subjected to the discriminatory policies and practices alleged,'' the amended lawsuit says.

Wal-Mart attorney Theodore Boutrous Jr. said the plaintiffs' arguments still rely on the same theories that the Supreme Court repudiated.

``These lawyers seem more intent on alleging classes for their publicity value than their legal virtue,'' Boutrous said in a statement.

The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California is Betty Dukes, Patricia Surgeson, Edith Arana, Deborah Gunter and Christine Kwapnoski, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc, 01-2252. (Reporting by Dan Levine and Poornima Gupta, editing by Maureen Bavdek)

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Comments

[mdipary2004]

12:48 PM on 10/30/2011

Men here is a way to make money. File a lawsuite for dicrimination againts The National Orginization of Women for not hireing males.How many males are employed by them

[mdipary2004]

12:34 PM on 10/30/2011

Discrimination. How many male employees does WOW employ ? How many male employees do all the womans groups we have The United States employ? If you want to complain about something show me you are not dicriminating

[Steve Albin]

06:32 AM on 10/28/2011

You know what the job pays when you accept it. You have free will to work where you want and you have free will not to work. The Jobs belong to the employer.

[HaeJee]

10:00 AM on 10/28/2011

Discrimination is against the law bottom-line.

[El Chingaso]

11:25 AM on 10/28/2011

Yeah, try proving "objective" discrimination. So many claims are purely subjective in nature (i.e. the "me, myself and I" syndrome). They don't stand a chance...

[mdipary2004]

02:11 PM on 10/30/2011

sort of like the lack of male employees at NOW. Thats called DISCRIMINATION

[HopeWFaith]

09:47 AM on 10/29/2011

Total bull! So long as there are consumers consuming, owners should have a more grateful to have a company attitude, which incorporates logical, balanced, fair practices, so they can have and keep a good ethical reputation. Corporate giants don't have the right to treat people like animals, but they do it every day, day in, day out. And people like you have supported that kind of thinking. To hades with you and your kind.

[Mlark]

11:02 PM on 10/29/2011

So how exactly are corporations treating people like animals?

[whyus]

01:48 AM on 10/28/2011

People, don't shop there.

[malander]

11:55 PM on 10/27/2011

Walmart, destroying small business across America and making China's economy strong!

[Lemmiwinks99]

12:47 AM on 10/28/2011

It is customers who destroy the small business. You know people have to CHOOSE to shop at Walmart right?

[NMLurker]

11:05 PM on 10/27/2011

So will the giant slayers of small businesses in this country ever be held accountable for treating women like sIaves?

[Lemmiwinks99]

12:47 AM on 10/28/2011

How have they treated anyone like slaves? Were they forced to work, did anyone force people to shop at walmart?

[HopeisEternal]

06:18 AM on 10/28/2011

Maybe not like slaves, maybe more like serfs.

[mdipary2004]

12:39 PM on 10/30/2011

How many male employees does the Womans Groups have employed. You want to talk the talk. Fact is you dont want anyone to know how womans groups discriminate men

[Nick3169]

09:18 PM on 10/27/2011

This is caused by the rise in health care premiums because they keep adding things to the plans they must offer. Keeping children on their parents plan until age 26, no co pays for flu shots and no co pays for contraceptives are 3 examples of Washington causing premiums to rise more than normal.

[17ladyslippers]

10:46 PM on 10/27/2011

Nope - it's the insurance companies.

Just like always.

[HaeJee]

10:06 AM on 10/28/2011

Just another excuse to increase insurance premiums. Instead of blaming the increase on insuring those that are not normally covered, try blaming some doctors that abuse charging insurance companies for unnecessary procedures and tests. Look at the doctors that have recently been charged freud for this abusing practice, just to milk insurance companies and buy bigger summer homes.

[Peace Walker]

08:58 PM on 10/27/2011

It is my most sincere hope that the SCOTUS decision will backfire, and that by having to deal with each local or regional class action separately, it is far far more costly for them.

Never give up, women. Nor all of us; we are all in this together. It is not about men or women "winning", it is about fairness and justice.

[Lemmiwinks99]

12:48 AM on 10/28/2011

Good call, drive up the prices at one of the few places the poor can afford to shop. No negative consequences to that policy.

[Bob Metcalfe]

12:53 AM on 10/28/2011

Maybe they're poor because Walmart pay is rubbish. Walmart's German operations are properly supervised. Your government and you the voters let 'em get away with it.

[Kai-HK]

08:50 PM on 10/27/2011

Another spurious lawsuit from these greedy women?

[knott wrench]

07:45 PM on 10/27/2011

So, Walmart is a Corporation? And at the same time An "Individual" when it comes to PAC Donations.

Which part of this is "Schoitzed'? You can't have it both ways.

Oh yeah, Walmart is part of ALEC so they are both!

[aaapreciseplumb]

07:38 PM on 10/27/2011

I am going to say what everyone is thinking. Has it ever come to mind that instead of helping people who are confused about their gender threw phycological help we empowered them to develope into the very bullies that they say they are sick They want some kind of special treatment and that seems odd to me. I have a similar thought on gays. I don't dislike either of them but when they are bullies theirselves then I have a problem. I am a straight white girl who suffered the the saddest of childhood at the hand of bullies. The school had to assign security to me. The children had decided that when a poloroid camera picture was burnt and my eyes in the pic didn't they deemed me a real live witch and beat me with in inches of my life several times. I am very familar with bully's and the damage it can do someone and their mind. I want no special treatment but I would never bully someone not ever because of that but what is wrong in the gay and gender confused people because I find them to be the very bullies they hate.

[TaxpayingVoter]

09:44 PM on 10/27/2011

I'm sorry you were so bullied in school that you didn't have a chance to get an actual education.

That's sad.

If you did, perhaps you'd realize how completely off-base you are.

[SgtMom]

11:13 AM on 10/30/2011

I completely agree. Look at the recent kerfluffle with the Seattle waitress going viral exposing a customer who didnt' tip her.

She enlisted help from the blogs Jezebel AND Dan Savage( who is ALWAYS complaining about gays being bullied), public showing his facebook page and where he worked...

...only she accused the WRONG guy.

It's a crime to be bullied, but good fun when the opportunity arises for YOU to bully?

I think NOT.

[fortressfountain]

07:56 PM on 10/27/2011

If people would not shop there-the problems would go away.

[ruffdeezy]

07:30 PM on 10/27/2011

I like their low prices
Allows me to spend more money on things I actually want to buy

[Phil Lunney]

09:48 PM on 10/27/2011

It is a false savings since over half of Wal-Marts employees are on state medicaid programs (often directed to them by their own Human Resources departments). I stopped shopping at Wal-Mart for this reason. They put local businesses out of business and pay wages too low for employees to afford the Healthcare plans they offer.

[Wattdidusay]

10:15 PM on 10/27/2011

All they sell is junk, what do your cabinets look like, your closets? Do you have stuff that you have not used/ worn in 6 months or more? You are not stimulating the economy by buying more junk that you cannot use or do not need, you are supporting people whose whole goal is to make more money, at the expense of the American people.

[sobrien]

03:49 PM on 10/27/2011

In the absence of unions and collective bargaining, discrimination like this will always be far more prevalent.

The legal recourse and long and difficult and after the fact.

[mdipary2004]

01:01 PM on 10/30/2011

Prevalent, just like how many male employees womans groups hire.

[econ1]

03:10 PM on 10/27/2011

Northern and southern CA are very different, as is the central valley vs the coast. I think they will have to be a bit more specific.