Sex Discrimination

California insurers are discriminating against women, charging them more for individual health insurance than men, the city of San Francisco maintained in a lawsuit filed Tuesday against the state regulators who govern them.

A federal appeals court has granted Wal-Mart Stores Inc. a new hearing to decide whether plaintiffs grouped in a nationwide class-action case will instead be required to file separate lawsuits. A majority of judges on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the issue should be heard by an 11-judge panel, but a hearing date has not yet been determined. Six female employees sued the Bentonville, Ark.-based company in 2001, saying they were paid less than men and promoted less frequently.

The first bill that lands on Barack Obama's desk after he becomes president could provide him with an opportunity to make an immediate mark on civil rights. Democrats in Congress are pushing legislation that would undo a controversial 2007 decision by the Supreme Court that tossed out a workplace discrimination suit brought by a female supervisor at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.

The Office for Civil Rights from the U.S. Department of Education has begun an investigation of the William S. Hart Union High District following a complaint by a parent alleging that the district is discriminating against students on the basis of sex and disability within its sports programs.

As her chances of becoming vice president recede, some of Hillary Rodham Clinton's supporters are pushing for the Democratic Party's new platform to state that the primary elections "exposed pervasive gender bias in the media" and to call on party leaders to take "immediate and public steps" to condemn future perceived instances of bias.

A state appeals court on Wednesday overturned a $1.5-million award for a former Los Angeles prosecutor who said City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo and other supervisors retaliated against her for filing a sex discrimination complaint and reporting misconduct by other attorneys. The Court of Appeal in Los Angeles found that the evidence did not support Lynn Magnandonovan's allegation. The 2-1 ruling reversed a 2006 jury decision that also gave Magnandonovan substantial legal fees.

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday awarded $2.25 million to a police officer who said she was discriminated against and sexually harassed by her male colleagues and supervisors, and then retaliated against when she complained.

The posters around Vienna's neo-Gothic town hall set tongues wagging: In place of the traditional "Construction Work Ahead" symbol showing a man in pants and helmet, they depicted a ponytailed woman wearing rugged-looking boots and a skirt, and hefting a shovel. On "Exit" signs, the traditional running male stick figure was replaced by a running woman, this time in high-heeled boots and a skirt, hair flying behind her.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus was thrown into turmoil Thursday after Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Santa Ana) resigned her membership amid accusations that its chairman, Rep. Joe Baca (D-Rialto), had been demeaning to women. Two of the remaining five women in the 21-member caucus expressed concerns about how the group treated them, but did not resign. Rep. Hilda L. Solis (D-El Monte) complained about the "lack of respect afforded to women members of the Hispanic Caucus." And Rep. Linda T.

The Angels did not discriminate against men by providing free tote bags to women in a Mother's Day promotion, a judge ruled Thursday. After he threw out the lawsuit, Orange County Superior Court Judge Jonathan Cannon threatened to penalize attorney Alfred Rava for "intentionally misleading the court" about previous cases in which he had represented Michael Cohn, the Los Angeles psychologist who sued the Angels.