Dukes V. Wal-Mart Stores,

Inc

Presented by Christie Bucher

2004 judge rules case could go forward to a class action

Judge thought historic in nature

Dukes and other plaintiffsPaid less and fewer promotionsBetty Dukes lead plaintiff (not

promoted)Claudia Renati dog foodChristine Kwapnoski “doll up and blow

the cobwebs off [your] makeup.Stephanie Odle single motherLawyers said these instances

represented a broad pattern

Approximate Percentages of Women in Salaried Wal-Mart Store Management and Hourly Supervisory

positions in 2001.

Average Annual Earning for Men and Women at Wal-Mart in Selected Jobs, 2001

said

Women were not representative of other women“Wal-Mart is a great place for women to work, and isolated complaints that arise from its 3000+ stores do not change this fact.”“Many of the women had the opportunity to go into training to become an assistant manager, but they did not want to work the odd shifts, like working all night long, Saturdays and Sundays.”

Which laws talked about in this chapter do you believe Wal-Mart violated? And Why? Hint pg 414

•Wal-Mart violated the Equal Pay Act• Possibly violated Civil Rights

and the Equal Employment Opportunity Acts

If you were an executive at Wal-Mart

what further steps would you take?

If I were an executive at Wal-Mart and had training programs that people did not want to go to for any reason, I would definitely keep track of this, so I could show that I tried. I think it is important to give everyone the opportunity, but I believe that the most qualified or the person that would be best for that position should get the job. In doing this I would need to keep records showing why each person was hired over everyone else. In just taking who is the most qualified, you never know what the diversity of your company is going to look like. If it happens to be less diverse in upper management or in any other part of the company, you need to be ready to defend your employee choices.

What do you think would be an appropriate

outcome of this case, and why?

I believe that if Wal-Mart can prove that they provided these women with the opportunities they stated, then the only law they had broken was the Equal Pay Act. There are hundreds of women that

would deserve to be compensated for past work that was done at an unequal pay. Then Wal-Mart should have to continue

to pay everyone the same amount for the same job and same amount of time worked.

Summary

Everyone should get equal opportunities for promotion and equal pay for equal work.

If your company does not provide this it might find itself in the middle of a law suit.