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Costco Gender Discrimination Class Action Lawsuit Revived
By Kimberly Mirando
A federal judge has certified a class action lawsuit against Costco Wholesale Corp. accusing the company of gender discrimination and bias. Female Costco employees allege in the class action lawsuit that the company limits their opportunities to be promoted to managerial positions by failing to post job openings.
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen revived the Costco gender discrimination class action lawsuit last week, which was originally filed in 2004, after finding the women had presented enough evidence of “systematic gender bias” to proceed as a group. The Plaintiffs are seeking back pay, compensatory damages and punitive damages for roughly 700 current and former female employees employed since 2002 who were passed over for promotions to general manager and assistant general manager at Costco locations nationwide.
Costco originally had the case thrown out last September following a decision made in a separate gender bias class action lawsuit filed by female Wal-Mart workers. In his decision to resurrect the Costco gender discrimination class action lawsuit, Judge Chen said the women had presented more evidence of systematic gender bias than the Plaintiffs involved in a gender discrimination class action lawsuit against Wal-Mart, which was dismissed last year. The case (known as Dukes v. Wal-Mart) affected Costco workers because it set new, stricter standards for proving a group of workers have enough in common to sue a company together. Unlike the women involved in the Wal-Mart case, women at Costco “have provided significant proof that (the company) operates under a general policy of discrimination” and follows “a common direction emanating from Costco’s upper management,” Judge Chen said.
Since Costco workers have enough in common to join in a single class action lawsuit against the company, they do not have to pursue individual claims of gender discrimination, Chen said.
The newly certified Costco gender bias class action lawsuit targets specific employment practices allegedly implemented companywide at the direction of top management at Costco, including a “tap-on-the shoulder appointment” process without applications or interviews, and a mandated lack of posting for open positions.
The Costco Gender Discrimination Class Action Lawsuit case is Ellis v. Costco, Case No. 04-3341, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California.
Updated October 2nd, 2012
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