Supreme Court Tosses Wal-Mart Sex Discrimination Class Action Lawsuit

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

The U.S. Supreme Court threw out on Monday the historical sex discrimination class action lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. — the largest ever such case — in a major victory for Wal-Mart and other major corporations. In a 5-4 opinion, the Court ruled that more than 1 million female Wal-Mart employees nationwide could not proceed together in the Wal-Mart sex discrimination class action lawsuit, Dukes v. Wal-Mart, which was seeking billions of dollars in back pay and punitive damages from Wal-Mart for allegedly paying women less and giving them fewer promotions. All nine justices unanimously agreed that the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco erred in allowing the massive gender discrimination class action to move forward on claims seeking back pay.

The Supreme Court accepted Wal-Mart’s argument that the class action certification violated federal rules for such lawsuits and that the female employees, who worked in different jobs at 3,400 different stores nationwide and with different supervisors, do not have enough in common to proceed together in a single class action lawsuit.

The Wal-Mart sex discrimination class action lawsuit has been closely watched as the most important class action case in more than a decade for its significant impact on other class action lawsuits currently pending or brought in the future against major corporations. The decision makes it more difficult for employees and others to join together in a common lawsuit against a large business with many branches unless they are able to clearly identify a common injury, such as a company-wide discriminatory policy, at the earliest stages. This is a big deal in such major corporate America cases because big class actions rarely go to trial.

The Supreme Court ruling may have squashed the million-strong sex discrimination class action against Wal-Mart, but that does not mean the legal battle is over. The decision did not absolve Wal-Mart of the allegations that it shortchanged female employees. A lawyer for the female Wal-Mart employees said they are considering options that include pursuing class action lawsuits with smaller groups of women or proceeding individually.