Women who work for Tennessee’s largest private employer filed a court case Tuesday claiming pay discrimination. The federal lawsuit against Wal-Mart follows an unsuccessful case that involved women coast-to-coast.
The Supreme Court ruled against a nationwide class-action lawsuit last year – in part – because the women didn’t have enough in common to constitute a class.
The Tennessee case is the first in an expected wave of smaller, regional suits, brought by civil rights attorneys with Nashville’s Barrett Johntson law firm.
Scott Tift says the named-plaintiffs have first-hand accounts of discrimination.
“Some women who’ve filed charges in Tennessee are assistant managers who – at times – shockingly have seen people working under their supervision who are men with similar experience who are being paid more than they are being paid as their supervisor.”
Washington D.C. civil rights attorney Joseph Sellers represented the women in the national case and is helping lawyers around the country bring localized lawsuits.
“We are now in the 11th year in the pendency of first the original national class and now these smaller classes, and we’ve yet to have any ruling on the merits of the underlying claims of discrimination.”
All along, Wal-Mart has said it has strong internal controls to prevent discrimination. Spokesman Randy Hargrove says Wal-Mart is a great place for women to work.
“The claims made by the plaintiffs don’t match the positive experience that so many other women have had at Wal-Mart.”
If a court approves this regionalized approach, the class-action lawsuit could include thousands of women in Tennessee who worked at Wal-Mart stores since 1998.
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