Litigation

Ninth Circuit approves massive employment discrimination class action against Wal-Mart

By Lori Bauman

An en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today authorized a huge class-action lawsuit to proceed against Wal-Mart.  At issue in Dukes v. Wal-Mart are claims that the company has a policy of discriminating against women in pay and promotions.  The plaintiff class is estimated to number 1.5 million current and former employees.

The en banc panel split 6-5 in favor of certifying the class.  Judge Michael Daly Hawkins, writing for the majority, states "the district court acted within its broad discretion in concluding that it would be better to handle some parts of this case as a class action instead of clogging the federal courts with innumerable individual suits litigating the same issues repeatedly."  Pointing to the unwieldy size of the class and lack of evidence of a company-wide policy of discrimination, the dissent by Judge Sandra Ikuta states "No court has ever certified a class like this one, until now.  And with good reason."

See our coverage of the 2007 opinion by a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel approving the class here, and the 2009 order for rehearing en banc here. 

Full post as published by Northwest Business Litigation Blog on April 26, 2010 (boomark / email).