High-profile Wal-mart Case Takes Supreme Court Center Stage

Wal-Mart’s warts will be on full display next week as the U.S. Supreme Court takes up an appellate decision of the largest potential class-action lawsuit in the nation’s history.

Dukes v. Wal-Mart has been a long-running class-action case claiming that Wal-Mart systematically passed over female employees for promotion over male counterparts.

Next week, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments to determine if the case will proceed as a class-action lawsuit. Attorneys for the plaintiffs are arguing that it is not possible to try the cases individually, a point Wal-Mart disputes.

Peter Urban with our content partner, Stephens Media, files a report from Washington, D.C.  A coalition group of consumer, civil and women’s rights groups have formed an alliance backing the plaintiffs’ positions.

The Alliance for Justice argues that a company-wide pattern of sex discrimination makes Wal-Mart v. Dukes a “textbook class action case.”

“If our nation’s largest private employer can avoid liability for systemic discrimination across its nationwide chain of stores it will undermine equal rights of all women workers,” said Brian Siebel, the principal author of a recently released report by the group.

You can read more at this link.