Wal-Mart sex bias case has corporate attorneys jittery (BIG class action)

Wal-Mart sex bias case has corporate attorneys jittery
By L.M. SIXEL
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

FULBRIGHT & Jaworski surveyed corporate counsels recently and found employment concerns were foremost on their minds.

So what are they thinking about instead of real estate deals and business contracts? In a word: Wal-Mart.

In June, a federal judge in San Francisco certified a class-action sex discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart. The case, which started with six women, now could potentially include at least 1.5 million women across the country claiming damages for allegedly not receiving the same pay and promotion opportunities as male employees.
While employers have always faced the possibility of getting hit by a big class-action discrimination case, they're not very common

..snip..

with the Wal-Mart ruling, suddenly employers with operations in the West are worried about potential liability if a federal judge believes their pay or promotion practices are discriminatory and widespread. Even if only a few employees live in California, the class can include all company employees in the entire United States.

"It's scary," said William Cobb, president of Houston-based Cobb Consulting, which works with law firms on strategy, compensation and pricing.

And once a class is certified, which doesn't require a lot of evidence upfront, it's hard to settle cheaply because the needs of the entire group must be weighed, said Jeff Londa, an employment lawyer with Ogletree Deakins in Houston.

From a defense standpoint, said Londa, who represents employers, there is a high extortion value...cont'd

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/2731593

don't discriminate. Can it be any easier than that?

Jay

It's about time abusive employers like Mal-Wart be made to comply with the law just like us "little people." I'm also sick of hearing their "image improvement" radio commercials with "employees" (yeah, sure) extolling the virtures of working for such a great employer.

How about treating your employees with respect? Perhaps you won't find yourself subject to "extortion" if you were a decent employer to start with.

Boy, can't have those employees getting all uppity and filing law suits. What is this world coming to if you can't shit all over your employees and expect to get away with it anymore.

Saying No to Wal-Mart, re: editorial, Aug. 12, 2004

To the editor,

Wal-Mart is the world's largest retailer, larger than ExxonMobil, G.M.
and G.E. Wal-Mart has the power to squeeze profit-killing concessions from vendors.
To survive in the face of its pricing demands, makers of everything have had to lay off American
employees and close U.S. plants in favor of outsourcing products from overseas.

Having a Wal-Mart in your community costs you money. Low, non-union wages means property values drop, little to no health benefits means taxpayers must subsidize Wal-Mart employees by paying more taxes for their county hospital stays; paying for the infrastructure to Wal-Mart stores with sewers, water and electric will also cost tax dollars.

A few facts:
-Wal-Mart sales clerks make less than the Federal poverty level.
-For every two jobs Wal-Mart creates, three jobs are lost elsewhere.
-For every Super Center opening, two traditional grocery stores will close, thus trading good paying jobs, with good benefits and pension, to a low wage, no benefit job.
- By 2008 $1.00 of every $4.00 will go to Wal-Mart or China.
- Wal-Mart has a lawsuit brought against them by female employees that
may include one million women.

Do your homework on Wal-Mart...find out what other cities
have faced allowing big box and Wal-Mart Super centers into
their communities.

Kudos to the LA City Council for not taking Wal-Mart bribes and
standing firm for the businesses that make our cities unique and
strong.