Sex Discrimination Lawsuit Filed Against TX Wal-Mart

Late last week, attorneys filed a complaint in US District Court, Northern District of Dallas, on behalf of approximately 50,000 current and former women employees of Wal-Mart, alleging that the corporation discriminated on the basis of sex. The plaintiffs in the case, Odle et al v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., seeks punitive damages, claiming that Wal-Mart denied equal pay and promotions to women employees in its Texas stores.

Hal K. Gillespie, lead co-counsel, stated, "This suit alleges Wal-Mart Texas Regions have a general policy of discrimination. What we have found during our discovery is a consistent and willful practice of discrimination in pay. What we have found during our discovery is a consistent and willful practice of discrimination in pay and promotion against women employees in Wal-Mart stores throughout Texas. This case is in complete compliance with the new class action and employment discrimination guidelines. We can now seek justice for these women, many of whom had been discriminated against for more than a decade."

This is the second class action suit designed to serve as a scaled down version of the initial lawsuit sex discrimination lawsuit filed against Wal-Mart in 2001 and rejected by the U.S Supreme Court in June. The court ruled that the suit was too varied in its allegations, showing no concrete pattern of gender bias, effectively making Wal-Mart "too big to sue."

Media Resources: Turner Strategies 1/19/12; Feminist Daily Newswire 6/20/11

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