Wal-Mart v. Dukes: The Supreme Court's Big Case Threatens the Ability to Fight Corporate Misbehavior

The Huffington Post Posted: 03/28/11 03:05 PM ET Nan Aron President, Alliance for Justice What's it like to be a female employee of Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer? According to Betty Dukes, it's frustrating, as well as economically and psychologically debilitating. Ms. Dukes was an enthusiastic Wal-Mart employee, eager to work her way up from store "greeter" to a position in management. But after years passed watching male colleagues move up and finding no opportunities for her own advancement, she discussed her concerns with a district manager. The result was a pattern of retaliation that eventually led to a demotion and pay cut -- and the biggest sex discrimination case in history. It turns out Ms. Dukes wasn't alone. When a woman with a master's degree who had worked at Wal-Mart for five years asked her department manager why she was paid less than a 17-year-old boy who had just been hired, she was informed, "You just don't have the right equipment... You aren't male, so you can't expect to be paid the same." Another female employee was informed that a male employee got a bigger raise then she did because he had "a family to support." Another was told that men would always be paid more than women at Wal-Mart because "God made Adam first, so women would always be second to men." Full Story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nan-aron/walmart-v-dukes-the-supre_b_841551.html