The Change Mariner

Walmart: Potential For Largest Employment Class Action Suit in History

Christian Science Monitor

More than 100 women have submitted statements to the US District Court in San Francisco, charging discrimination in the form of unequal pay and barriers to promotion. If their request to classify this as a class-action suit is granted, the class would include 1.6 million women who have worked at Wal-Mart since 1998.

That would make it the largest employment class-action suit in United States history - one that would have "seismic impact," says Adam Forman, an attorney with Testa, Hurwitz, & Thibeault in Boston, which is not involved in the case.

The potential for a full battle in court ora gargantuan settlement has lawyers and employers alike watching from the edges of their seats. And the case could bring sex discrimination to the public's attention in a way not seen since Anita Hill's accusations against Clarence Thomas in 1991 forced a national conversation on sexual harassment.

However the case is resolved, it raises the specter of gender stereotypes that many assume had disappeared long ago.

"We don't hear very much anymore of people willing to say women should be home with their children, or a man should make more because he's supporting [a family] ... but the notion of women not being interested [in certain jobs] is still quite pervasive," says Joyce K. Fletcher, a professor at Boston's Simmons School of Management and its Center for Gender in Organizations.

Posted by Norm M. Wada at October 26, 2003 8:19 PM | TrackBack
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