New York residents may have heard stories about pay discrepancies between male and female workers. On Nov. 6, Female Walmart employees filed a lawsuit in a Florida federal court claiming that gender discrimination exists within the company’s pay and promotion policies. The suit seeks back pay in addition to other financial damages. Furthermore, it seeks class action status, which may allow thousands of other workers to become part of this legal action.
This is the second attempt to file a class action claim against the company. In 2001, a case involving a Walmart greeter was initially certified as a class action suit representing 1.6 million female workers. However, the decision was eventually overturned by the Supreme Court. Justice Scalia pointed out that official company policy banned discrimination and that managers acted on their own. The court also ruled that the cases were not similar enough to each other to gain such status.
On that point, the justices agreed, acknowledging that the suit did not argue that more than a million workers were discriminated against in the same way. However, the lawsuit filed on Nov. 6 claims that Walmart does not use objective criteria such as experience or job performance when determining how much an employee makes. It also claims that male employees make more than female employees regardless of their performance on the job.
Workers who experience unequal treatment related to pay or other workplace practices may wish to take legal action. It may be possible to win compensation in the form of back pay or other damages. An attorney may use official corporate policies, manager statements or other evidence to show that workers were discriminated against based on gender or other attributes. Those who were terminated for making discrimination claims may be reinstated to their former positions.
