Wal-mart has sought your counsel on gender discrimination. In memo format, please explain what the Equal Pay Act is, the two forms of sexual harassment (quid pro quo and hostile environment), and then disparate impact. Please apply the concepts to the following facts:

Directions:

Wal-mart has a female employee, Susan, that works in the health and beauty department and she regularly faces a customer that touches her in inappropriate ways. She shared this with her friend Jill who was the assistant manager of the baby department. Her friend said she should tell her direct manager or human resources. Unfortunately, Susan did not, the harassment continued, and she sued Wal-mart. Which theory of harassment (quid pro quo or hostile environment) would apply here and do you think that Susan will win? Why or why not?

Wal-mart has approximately 66% of its front-line workers (stockers, clerks, etc.) that are women. There is a tremendous amount of turnover at this level as the wages for all front-line workers are so low that single mother households cannot survive at this pay and leave as soon as another opportunity opens up.

As a result, less than 33% of the management, senior management, and executives are women, resulting in men on average having higher wages.

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Wal-mart arguing that Wal-mart either a) violated the Equal Pay Act and/or b) engages in either intentional gender discrimination or disparate impact gender discrimination. Do you agree with this assessment? Why or why not?