Sex discrimination cited at Wal-MartWomen accuse Wal-Mart
Lawyers seek OK for class-action suit
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff WriterTuesday, April 29, 2003
Lawyers suing Wal-Mart for sex discrimination in pay and promotions made their case Monday for a nationwideclass action on behalf of 1.5 million women,portraying the giant retailer as a company that sees men as breadwinners and women as housewivessupplementing their incomes.If the class-action proposal is approved by a federal judge in San Francisco, it would be the largest employmentdiscrimination suit on record. A hearing is scheduled July 25.The suit, filed by six women in June 2001, accuses Wal-Mart, the nation's largest private employer, of paying women less than men for similar work and awarding promotions through an old boys' network that has kept women's numbers low. Monday's motion sought to bring the statistics to life with declarations from 110 women in30 states, including:-- Kathleen MacDonald of Aiken, S.C., who said she learned in 1999 that she was earning less than male employeesin similar jobs, and complained to her department manager. He told her women would never make as much asmen, she said, because "God made Adam first."-- Ramona Scott, former personnel manager in a Pinellas Park, Fla., store, who said she tried to get a merit raise fora female cashier in 1993 but was turned down by the store manager, who told her, "Men are here to make a career,and women aren't. Retail is for housewives who just need to earn extra money."-- Melissa Howard, a former store manager in Indiana, who said district lunch meetings were sometimes held at aHooters restaurant in Fort Wayne, and a business trip supervised by male managers included stops at several stripclubs.Plaintiffs' lawyers also submitted numerous statements from women who said they had been denied raises orpromotions that were given to less-qualified men.The suit seeks back pay and punitive damages for all women who have worked at Wal-Mart since late December1998. Wal-Mart has nearly 1 million employees.Jay Allen, a spokesman at Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., said the filing showed, at most, a set of isolated incidents rather than consistent patterns or policies that would justify a class action."Wal-Mart is a large organization, and individual incidents of discrimination can occur," he said. "That's not thesame thing as an intentional, systemwide practice. There is no systemwide, intentional discrimination at Wal-Mart."
Page 1of 2Sex discrimination cited at Wal-Mart / Women accuse Wal-Mart / Lawyers seek OK for class-action suit11/13/2008http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/04/29/BU303648.DTL&type=printable
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