Wal-Mart fighting class action ruling
Retailer contests sex discrimination case
Wal-Mart Stores has asked a in the US to review last month’s ruling by a San Francisco judge that could see the company sex-discrimination lawsuits from up to 1.6m current and former women employees.
The ruling gave class action status to an existing lawsuit, Betty Dukes v Wal-Mart Stores, which was filed in 2001 by six women. The suit alleges that Wal-Mart’s employment policies discriminated against women in areas such as pay, promotion and training.
In a submission to the San Francisco based federal appeals court Wal-Mart, the largest private employer in the US, said it does not have a policy discriminating against women, and argued that the size of class is unmanageable.
The court has not ruled yet on whether it would consider Wal-Mart’s application. If allowed, the case against Wal-Mart could become one of the biggest civil right actions in legal history.
