Will 3 women on The Supreme Court make a difference with pro-business court?

By Kathy Groob, Publisher ElectWomen Magazine–  More than 100 women have come forward to accuse retail giant Walmart of gender discrimination of pay and promotions at the company that raked in $14.1 billion in profits last year.  The class action lawsuit, now before the United State Supreme Court, could be the largest class action civil rights case in U.S. history.

Walmart denies any wrongdoing and has asked the court to halt the class action suit.  The National Women’s Law Center, along with Betty Dukes and other former Walmart female employees are bringing the legal action as a way to hold employers accountable for discriminatory employment practices.

After experiencing what they describe as a corporate culture of paying women less and promoting men more, six women filed a lawsuit against Walmart in 2001.  The case languished for years at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco before a panel upheld the judge’s decision. The full appellate court agreed in a 6-to-5 decision last year and a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that the suit could go forward.

The plaintiffs’ attorney, Brad Seligman, a class-action specialist at the Impact Fund, a tiny public-interest law firm in Berkeley, Calif., assembled statistics showing that women constitute 80 percent of hourly Wal-Mart workers but hold only one-third of managerial jobs. The percentage of women decreases on each step up the company hierarchy.

The Walmart discrimination case is among the first high profile women’s issue to arrive at a court whose membership for the first time is one-third female.  Notably a pro-business Supreme Court, three female members of the court could tip the results in favor of the women.

National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) Co-President Marcia D. Greenberger, “As this morning’s hearing showed, the stakes in Wal-Mart v. Dukes could not be higher. The Supreme Court’s decision will determine whether as a practical matter employees across the country, especially women and others earning lower wages, will be able to join together as a class to challenge discrimination by their employers. If the Supreme Court gives the green light to the women of Wal-Mart to proceed as a class, as it should, it will mean that these women, after waiting 10 years, will finally have their day in court. They will finally have the chance to equalize pay and promotions at the country’s largest employer. And the Supreme Court will have sent an important message that no company is too big or too powerful to be held accountable.”

The case is Walmart Stores vs. Dukes.  Walmart is the nation’s largest employer.