In 2001, six female employees of Wal-Mart filed suit against their company in US federal court alleging that Wal-Mart discriminated against them in salary, bonuses and training. After extensive discovery and oral argument, in 2003 the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint requesting that the court certify the case as a class action on behalf of current and former female Wal-Mart employees maintaining that the discrimination faced by the original plaintiffs was systematic in nature and affected all women employed by Wal-Mart. In June of 2004, the court granted the plaintiffs’ motion for class certification. The lawsuit represents approximately 1.5 million current and former female Wal-Mart employees, which makes it the largest workplace bias case in US history. Wal-Mart appealed the class certification decision. In February of 2007, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's ruling granting class action status to this gender discrimination lawsuit. In February 2009, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted Wal-Mart's request for an en banc review of the lower court's ruling granting class action status. This review was heard in late March 2009. In April 2010, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that this lawsuit could move forward to trial as a class action lawsuit. Wal-Mart petitioned the Supreme Court in August 2010 asking it to hear an appeal of the Ninth Circuit Court's ruling allowing this lawsuit to proceed as a class action. The company maintains that the claims should be handled individually (or in smaller groups) rather than as a class of more than one million women.
- "Wal-Mart Asks Supreme Court To Hear Bias Suit", Steven Greenhouse, New York Times, 25 Aug 2010
- “Walmart fails to halt suit”, Bloomberg News, 12 Dec 2007
- "Wal-Mart Loses Bid to Block Group Suit in Bias Case", Karen Gullo and Margaret Cronin Fisk, Bloomberg News, 6 Feb 2007
- “Wal-Mart Asks Court To Narrow Bias Lawsuit”, Bloomberg News, 9 Aug 2005
- “Wal-Mart Wants to Declassify Lawsuit”, Anthony Sebok, FindLaw, 11 Aug 2004
- “Wal-Mart Bias Case Moves Forward”, Amy Joyce, Washington Post, 23 Jun 2004
- Wal-Mart: Wal-Mart Will Seek Further Appellate Review In Gender Class Action Lawsuit, 6 Feb 2007
- Wal-Mart: [PDF] Employment and Diversity Factsheet, 24 Jan 2007
- Website for plaintiffs and information for members and potential members of the class action lawsuit: Wal-Mart Class Website
- Equal Rights Advocates (co-counsel for plaintiffs): Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores (includes summary of the case and links to certain legal documents)
- [PDF] Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes et al. - Petition for a Writ of Certiorari, 25 Aug 2010 [Wal-Mart's petition to the Supreme Court asking it to hear an appeal of the Ninth Circuit's decision]
- US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit: [PDF] Dukes v. Wal-Mart Inc., 26 Apr 2010
- US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit: [PDF] Dukes v. Wal-Mart Inc., 11 Dec 2007
- US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit: [PDF] Dukes v. Wal-Mart, Inc., 6 Feb 2007
