Wal-Mart Faces $1bn Sex Discrimination Case

Wal-Mart is facing the biggest ever civil rights lawsuit brought against a private firm after a judge in the US allowed a sex discrimination case against the retailer to proceed as a class action.

Up to 1.6 million women who have worked for Wal-Mart since 1998 will be able to join the suit. Legal experts said the retailer could face a bill of hundreds of millions of dollars, even upwards of $1bn (£550m), to settle the case.

The original legal action was filed in June 2001 by six women who alleged that the retailer had discriminated against women in pay and promotion, while retaliating against anyone who complained.

Wal-Mart, the biggest employer in the US, has suffered damaging publicity about the way it treats workers. It is facing allegations that management bullied staff into overtime without pay and regularly breached child labour laws. Federal prosecutors are investigating whether the firm knowingly used contractors that hire illegal immigrants after a series of raids last year.

Wal-Mart, which owns Asda in the UK, tried to prevent the certification in a hearing last September, arguing that its stores operated with so much autonomy that they act like different businesses, with differing management styles.

US district court judge Martin Jenkins in San Francisco rejected the claim. He said the evidence presented was strong enough to infer "that Wal-Mart engages in discriminatory practices in compensation and promotion that affect all plaintiffs in a common manner". A trial date has not yet been set.

Wal-Mart plans to appeal against the decision. "Let's keep in mind that today's ruling has absolutely nothing to do with the merits of the case," it said.