Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, was charged with discriminating against women in promotions, pay and job assignments in a far-reaching lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court.
The suit filed in San Francisco by six current and former employees seeks class-action status and could represent as many as 500,000 women who work or have worked in the company's stores within the last two years.
A Wal-Mart spokesman said the company condemns discrimination and denies any systematic pattern of bias.
Although women make up more than 72% of the Wal-Mart work force, they hold only 10% of the store director jobs and fewer than a third of all store management jobs, according to the suit. That puts Wal-Mart out of step with its top 20 competitors, where 56% of the overall store management jobs are held by women, the suit says, citing statistics from the Labor Department. The suit alleges that other retailers had higher percentages of women in management in 1975 than Wal-Mart does now.
"It's as if the last 25 years of progress for women never happened at Wal-Mart," said Brad Seligman, the lead lawyer for the plaintiffs and the executive director of the Impact Fund, a nonprofit civil rights advocacy organization based in Berkeley. The suit also charges that women who have complained about unfair treatment have been subjected to retaliation, so much so that some workers refer to the company's grievance hotline as "1-800-you're-fired," Seligman said.
If the court declares the case a class action, it could be the largest such discrimination suit ever filed against a U.S. employer.
The lawsuit was put together by a nationwide consortium of lawyers and public-interest law firms after a year of investigation. The group set up a Web site and toll-free telephone number to solicit additional grievances and evidence. The suit seeks unspecified damages, including wages lost because of alleged discrimination.
Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart is the nation's largest private employer, with a U.S. work force of more than 960,000 at 3,100 Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores. The company reported sales last year of more than $191 billion.
A spokesman said the company condemns any kind of discrimination and has a record of taking disciplinary action, up to firing, against employees who violate that prohibition.
