Wal-Mart Must Face California Bias Case, Judge Rules

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-22/wal-mart-must-face-california-bias-case-judge-rules.html

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) must face an 11-year-old gender discrimination lawsuit brought on behalf of workers in California after the U.S. Supreme Court barred a lawsuit representing Wal-Mart employees nationwide. 

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco said in an order yesterday that the plaintiffs have proposed a reduced class size to between one and several hundred thousand members. 

The reduced class “could be certified,” Breyer wrote, if it made a “showing consistent with the Supreme Court’s decision” that a nationwide class action isn’t appropriate. 

Breyer rejected Wal-Mart’s bid to dismiss the case, an argument made on grounds that even the reduced class size suffers from the problems that led the Supreme Court to bar a nationwide class certification, according to the ruling. Breyer said he “reserves for later determination” if the class should be certified. 

The sex-bias case was originally filed in San Francisco in 2001 by women at a handful of Wal-Mart stores claiming they were denied pay and promotions. It was eventually certified as a class action, or group lawsuit covering more than 1 million employees after lawyers for the workers convinced a judge that Wal-Mart’s employment policies meant that women at hundreds of stores across the country were subject to similar treatment. 

Class certification provides leverage to plaintiffs in financing the lawsuit and negotiating a settlement. Wal-Mart appealed the certification, saying hiring and promotion decisions were made by local managers and each claim of discrimination should be handled in individual lawsuits.