Michael Freedman, 07.22.03, 10:10 AM ET
NEW YORK - The biggest cloak-and-dagger employer in the U.S. may be about to face the worlds largest workplace contrast case.
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On July 25, a San Francisco federal court judge will schedule arguments on whether to license a class of 1.5 million current and former Wal-Mart(nyse: WMT - intelligence operation - people ) employees in a massive sex discrimination suit. Plaintiffs claim the Bentonville, Ark., discount memory chain showed a posture of discrimination against women, preventing them from getting promotions and paying them less money than men in the same jobs.
Wal-Mart denies the allegations. But if the plaintiffs are successful, the sheer surface of the class could force the company into settlement. The alternative: a visitation that could put Wal-Mart on the hook for billions of dollars in compensatory and punitive damages.
The direction names seven current and former employees of Wal-Mart and its Sams Club stores in California, including Betty Dukes, an African-American woman hired as part-time demolish in 1994 at the Pittsburg, Calif., Wal-Mart. She was promoted twice and received at least(prenominal) two raises over the next three years.
But in 1997, she claims, she suddenly began to receive harsh and discriminatory treatment from male managers. She says she complained about it but got retaliation in return.
Later, she called in sick, and the store manager reacted in a highly negative and unskilled way, according to the complaint. Dukes complained again and asked in July 1999 to be trained as a department manager. Instead she was demoted and accused--falsely, she says--of violating a company policy. Her reward decreased with the demotion, and she watched over the next two years as men received promotions ahead of her.
Plaintiffs claim Dukes experience was typical. They evoke studies that say women constitute...If you want to get a full essay, read it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com
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