Last April, I wrote about the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal ruling allowing a gigantic discrimination and harassment class action to proceed against Wal-Mart. As of August 25, 2010, Wal-Mart has petitioned the Supreme Court to review the Ninth Circuit’s ruling. The petition introduces the issue as follows:
In a sharply divided 6-5 decision that conflicts with many decisions of this Court and other circuits, the en banc Ninth Circuit affirmed the certification of the largest employment class action in history. This nationwide class includes every woman employed for any period of time over the past decade, in any of Wal-Mart’s approximately 3,400 separately managed stores, 41 regions, and 400 districts, and who held positions in any of approximately 53 departments and 170 different job classifications. The millions of class members collectively seek billions of dollars in monetary relief under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, claiming that tens of thousands of Wal-Mart managers inflicted monetary injury on each and every individual class member in the same manner by intentionally discriminating against them because of their sex, in violation of the company’s express anti-discrimination policy.
Stay tuned for further developments.