Case: Sex Discrimination at Walmart

Betty Dukes was hired in May 1994 as a part-time cashier at a Walmart store in Pittsburg, California. Within a year she became a full-time employee, and two years later she was promoted to Customer Service Manager. Shortly thereafter, Ms. Dukes complained to the District Manager about dis- criminatory treatment from the head of her department and the store manager. After complaining, she was written up for a series of rules violations that were seldom enforced. In August 1999, she was demoted back to cashier, and her hours and wages were reduced. Despite this retaliation, Ms. Dukes aspired to a higher position, but each time the open position was filled without being posted, usually with a man. "Opportunities seemed to come and go, positions were filled," she said, but managers would not provide any support or encouragement. "No one would talk to you."

Suing for Discrimination

On June 19, 2001, Betty Dukes joined with five other female workers to file a suit against Walmart for discriminating against them as women. These women charged not only that local Walmart stores had discriminated against them personally but that the whole company had discriminated against all female employees during the previous five-year period. Since women employees at Walmart comprised more than 65 percent of hourly workers in a workforce of over 1 million people, the potential members of a class-action suit on behalf of all alleged victims of sex discrimination totaled at least 700,000 and possibly as high as 1.6 million women who had worked at the company for any length of time between 1996 and 2001.

Although the six women who filed the suit cited instances of discriminatory acts against themselves personally, the evidence that Walmart as a company is guilty of sex discrimination is based, in large part, on a statistical analysis of personnel data (see Figure 7.3 below). The suit alleged that female employees in Walmart stores were less likely than men to be promoted and that when they were promoted, women's advancement came more slowly. Women's pay also lagged behind that of men.

Figure 7.3 Distribution of Walmart's Female Employees, 1 9962001 Top Executives District Managers Salaried Managers Store Managers Hourly Workers 0 20 40 60 80 100 % of Employees in Position I Women I Men