Walmart open to mediation on EEOC complaint on gender bias

Walmart is accused of gender bias in a complaint filed by 178 female workers with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which became public this week and was first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday (Sept. 17).

Memos from the EEOC were issued in July and urge the parties to reach a resolution. The agency said there is “reasonable cause” to believe there was gender bias, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Cyndi Murray, a Walmart employee for 19 years, said in a statement to Talk Business & Politics, “it’s time for the largest corporate employer of women in the U.S. to make women associates whole by finally paying us a fair wage.” Murray is a member of the United For Respect, part of OUR Walmart and supported in part by United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

Walmart corporate spokesman Randy Hargrove told Talk Business & Politics the retail giant is “willing to engage in the conciliatory process with all the cases.” He said in the vast majority of cases, the EEOC’s reasonable cause findings are “vague and non-specific” despite Walmart asking for details on the EEOC findings.

“The EEOC has had these cases since 2012 and we have urged the commission to move forward on them for years. The allegations from these plaintiffs are more than 15 years old and are not representative of the positive experiences millions of women have had working at Walmart. Walmart will continue to respect the confidential nature of the process with the EEOC and will not be commenting on the individual cases,” Walmart said in the prepared statement provided by Hargrove.