Walmart Appeals Largest Discrimination Suit Ever to Supreme Court

No court has decided whether Walmart discriminated against over one million female employees from 1998 onward, but four times federal courts have ruled the that such a suit may proceed as a legitimate class action. Preferring to handle each allegation one-by-one, in an endless torrent of legal maneuvering, Walmart appealed certification of the class action decision to the Supreme Court this week.

The suit was filed in 2001 by six women who had worked at Walmart and were armed with a study showing that only 1/3 of the corporation's managers were female, but women composed 2/3 of the company's overall workforce.

In a statement released by the mega-retailer this week, Walmart claimed that its is "an excellent place for women to work and has been recognized as a leader in fostering the advancement and success of women in the workplace." Walmart argues that the class action cannot move forward because the allegations of gender discrimination vary too much among over one million women who work or worked at Walmart.

"Only the size of the case is unusual, and that is a product of Wal-Mart's size and the breadth of the discrimination we documented," argues Brad Selignman, lead attorney for the plaintiffs. There is no 'too big to be liable' exception in civil rights laws."

Whether a class action can be too big is now a question before a historically conservative Supreme Court. Led by Chief Justice John Roberts, and anchored by the Reagan-appointed swing-voter Justice Anthony Kennedy, the Court has recently displayed a pro-business pattern in its rulings. Since President George W. Bush's nominees Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito took their seats on the Court in 2003, 71% of narrowly divided cases have been decided in line with the Chamber of Commerce's position.

If the Court continues this pattern in Dukes v. Walmart, it would spell the end of the largest class action suit in American history. The Court first must decide to take the case. Considering the right-wing majority's penchant for siding with corporations, though, the best possible thing for women who worked at Walmart would be if the Court passes on the appeal, permitting the already-certified class action to move forward.

To take the case, though, only four of nine justices have to be interested. The justices return to the Court from a summer recess in October, though a decision in the Walmart suit may not wait.

It's not too late to tell Walmart what you think about its history of gender discrimination and legal battle against female employees. Tell Walmart that this is unacceptable.

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