2004-7-1
This is Bob Doughty with the VOA Special English Economics
Report.
A class-action lawsuit is a legal case brought by a group of
people who seek to represent a much larger group. In
two-thousand-one, six women brought a case against Wal-Mart Stores.
They say the company pays female employees, on average, five to
fifteen percent less than men for the same work. Treating employees
differently based on their sex is an illegal form of discrimination.
Last week a federal judge in California ruled that the case can
go forward as a class action. It could become the biggest
sex-discrimination lawsuit in American history. It could involve as
many as one-point-six million women employed by Wal-Mart now or in
the past. These include the six who brought the case.
Wal-Mart is based in Bentonville, Arkansas. It is the largest
private employer in the world. It has more than one-million
employees. Wal-Mart sells all kinds of low-price goods in its
stores. The company reported profits of nine-thousand-million
dollars last year.
Wal-Mart says it has no policy of discrimination against women.
It says decisions about jobs are usually made locally at its more
than three-thousand stores across the country.
Women make up about two-thirds of all the Wal-Mart workers who
are paid by the hour. But only about one-third of supervisors are
women. And women represent just fourteen percent of the top
officials in the company.
The percentage of women in top jobs is twenty points lower than
the average of the twenty largest sellers in the country. Lawyers
for the women presented these numbers based on information reported
to the Department of Labor. Wal-Mart says women do not seek top
positions as often as men.
Judge Martin Jenkins in San Francisco did not rule on the
arguments in the case. Wal-Mart said his ruling simply showed that
the judge believes the case meets the legal requirements for a class
action. The company said it would appeal.
Wal-Mart argues that such a large class action is not fair. It
says the court would need years to hear all the evidence. The
company wants the right to answer claims individually.
If the case remains a class action, legal experts say pressure
will build on Wal-Mart to reach a settlement. That could mean paying
thousands of millions of dollars to current and former employees.
But a settlement would avoid a trial, and the risk of having to pay
even more.
This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario
Ritter. This is Bob Doughty.