Walmart Likely Discriminated Against Female Store Workers, EEOC Finds
September 17 2019 - 9:08AM
Dow Jones News
By Sarah Nassauer
Walmart Inc. likely discriminated against 178 female workers by
paying less or denying promotions because of their gender, the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in memos viewed by The
Wall Street Journal.
The EEOC documents ask Walmart and the women who filed
complaints to come to "a just resolution of this matter," which
could include a settlement and changes to Walmart's practices, say
labor lawyers. If Walmart and the women don't reach an agreement,
the EEOC could file a lawsuit against the retailer.
The determination by the federal regulator marks a milestone in
a nearly two-decade effort by current and former store workers to
seek damages from the retail behemoth for discrimination.
In 2001, Walmart workers pursued a sprawling class-action suit
against Walmart, alleging the retailer systematically paid 1.6
million female workers less than men and offered fewer promotions.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2011 the group had too little in
common to form a single class of plaintiffs.
Since then, more than 1,900 women have pursued cases and filed
charges with the EEOC against Walmart alleging sex discrimination,
said Christine Webber, a partner at the law firm that argued the
Supreme Court case on behalf of the women and has acted as
co-counsel on the cases since then. The law firm shared the EEOC
documents with the Journal.
The EEOC said for 178 women, there is reasonable cause to
believe Walmart paid women less or denied women promotions, or
both, because of their gender. The charges involve workers in more
than 30 states.
The allegations are more than 15 years old and "not
representative of the positive experiences millions of women have
had working at Walmart," said Randy Hargrove, a Walmart spokesman.
Walmart has urged the EEOC to move forward on the complaints for
years, and told the agency it is willing to engage in the
conciliatory process, he said. The majority of cause findings "are
vague and non-specific," and Walmart has asked the agency to
provide details, he said.
Walmart has 1.5 million U.S. employees, making it the country's
largest private employer.
A spokesman for the EEOC said the agency can't comment on
investigations or the administrative process unless litigation is
filed. Joe Sellers, head of the employment practice at Cohen
Milstein Sellers & Toll, the firm acting as co-council for the
women's filings, declined to comment on settlement talks.
The reason or pace at which the EEOC issues findings or pursues
a lawsuit are unpredictable and can stretch for years, but it is
rare for the regulatory body to issue such a large number of
findings against a single company over a wide geographic area,
labor lawyers say, referring to the 178 women.
"When there are cause findings the EEOC is fully engaged and
there could be litigation" if the parties don't come to a
resolution, said Kenneth Yerkes, partner at law firm Barnes &
Thornburg LLP who often defends employers in labor cases and isn't
involved in the charges. When the EEOC issues findings across a
large geography it could mean the agency believes problems were
systemic, not due to a single bad actor, said Mr. Yerkes.
"I think that it is unusual and potentially momentous and I
think speaks volumes to Walmart's practices," said Lisa Banks,
partner at law firm Katz, Marshall & Banks LLP who often
represents potential whistleblowers and plaintiffs in high-profile
employment discrimination and sexual-harassment cases and isn't
involved in the claims. She was previously an attorney in the
EEOC's appellate division.
Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll assisted in filing claims with
the EEOC for nearly 2,000 women against Walmart in the wake of the
Supreme Court loss in 2011 and 2012. Over the years a handful of
those women withdrew their claims and some pulled out of the EEOC
process to file lawsuits. More than 1,700 women still have claims
pending against Walmart with the EEOC, the firm said.
In one case, a female Walmart worker earned $5.65 an hour as a
sales associate in 2002. Over the next two years she became a
cashier, then a claims associate without a pay increase, says an
EEOC document. In 2004 Walmart hired an outside firm to examine its
pay structure and the worker received a raise of $1.91 an hour,
said the document. At least 100 of the EEOC findings involve women
who received pay raises in 2004 due to the pay structure
review.
In 2004 Walmart made "wide pay administration changes that
resulted in increases for both genders," said Mr. Hargrove, the
company spokesman. "The fact that someone received an adjustment
does not mean there's a case of discrimination."
In August, a Florida judge ruled against three female former
Walmart workers in their discrimination suit, saying they didn't
provide sufficient evidence to go to trial. Still, In the ruling,
the judge wrote that "something was indeed rotten within the
corporate culture at Walmart." The women have filed a motion for
reconsideration.
"For some of these women, they have been waiting a long time to
have some kind of evaluation of their claims and ultimate closure,"
said Mr. Sellers. "Our hope is that this sets the stage for
resolution of these charges and others like them."
Write to Sarah Nassauer at sarah.nassauer@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 17, 2019 08:53 ET (12:53 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Walmart (NYSE:WMT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Walmart (NYSE:WMT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024