The Supreme Court has begun hearing arguments this week against Wal-Mart in the biggest class-action lawsuit in history. In the lawsuit, filed 10 years ago, Wal-Mart is being accused by about 1.5 million female employees, current and former, over pay and promotions.
The main issue is whether or not the large group of women should be allowed to proceed with a massive lawsuit. Based on their decision, the justices have the power to make it easier for large groups to join together against large companies such as Wal- Mart. On the other end, they could limit how many people can join together to fight large company policies and sue employers.
“It’s just unbelievable how many women are suing one company,” said junior environmental science and policy major Rachel Abbott.
The suit contends that, “while women comprise over 80 percent of hourly supervisors, they hold only one-third of store management jobs, and their ranks steadily diminish at each successive step in the management hierarchy.”
A decision in favor of the plaintiffs could definitely have a negative effect on large companies and open them up to a lot more liability.
“It’s going to have a huge impact if they vote in favor of the women…I can definitely see other large lawsuits coming up against other companies if this one goes through,” said sophomore elementary education major Sarah Kershner. A number of companies such as Costco, Microsoft, and General Electric have joined in support of Wal-Mart to stop the lawsuit arguing that there are too many members of the suit to be adequately represented.
The justices will not be deciding whether Wal-Mart is guilty of discrimination. They will be deciding whether to allow the sex-bias case to be heard as one of the biggest class-action lawsuits ever. A decision is not expected until late June.