By Craig Zammit
SAN FRANCISCO: Wal-Mart has failed in its attempt to prevent the biggest lawsuit in US history, in which two million female employees are entering into a class-action suit against the US retail giant for granting women employees lower pay than their male counterparts.
The class-action began with six women filing a law suit, and grew to two million over nine years from December 1998 to present. The pursuants claim that on top of lower pay, they were also given less promotions than male Wal-Mart employees..
However, Wal-Mart stated that it would ask the court to rehear the decision as it did not consideri Wal-Mart’s evidence in the first place.
The San Francisco federal appeals court stated that “expert opinions, factual evidence, statistical evidence and anecdotal evidence” all pointed towards a corporate policy of discrimination.
While the claims are yet to be proven at trial, the likelihood of a settlement is now significantly increased, with workers seeking billions in back-pay and punitive damages.