In its 6-5 ruling, the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said the world's largest private employer will have to face charges that it pays women less than men for the same jobs and that female employees receive fewer promotions and have to wait longer for those promotions than male counterparts do.
The retailer, based in Bentonville, Ark., has fiercely fought the lawsuit since it was first filed by six women in federal court in San Francisco in 2001, losing two previous rulings in the trial court and again in the appeals court in 2007.
Walmart persuaded the appeals court to revisit its 2007 ruling made by a three-judge panel with a larger 11-judge panel, arguing that women who allege discrimination should file individual lawsuits.
Independent storesWalmart, which has 2.1 million workers in 8,000 stores worldwide, argued that the conventional rules of class-action suits should not apply because each outlet operates as an independent business. Since it doesn't have a companywide discrimination policy, Walmart argued that women alleging gender bias should file individual lawsuits against individual stores.
Finally, the retailer argued that the lawsuit is simply too big to defend.
"Although the size of this class action is large, mere size does not render a case unmanageable," Judge Michael Daly Hawkins wrote for the majority court, which didn't address the merits of the lawsuit, leaving that for the trial court.
Judge Sandra Ikuta wrote a blistering dissent, joined by four of her colleagues.
"No court has ever certified a class like this one, until now. And with good reason," Ikuta wrote.
Ask the HOA ExpertEconomy blamed for U.S. birth rate decline in 2008
