California Employment Lawyer Blog

The saga between Wal-Mart and potentially 1 million female employees who believe there is widespread discrimination continues as the giant retailer agreed to give the plaintiffs an extra 90 days to file their cases, Bloomberg reports.

California Employment Lawyer Blog recently reported on the situation, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes that the class-action lawsuit against the company couldn't proceed because the plaintiffs haven't shown justification for class-action status.

Orange County discrimination happens every day, even though there are state and federal laws preventing it. Sadly, workers sometimes either don't know they are facing discrimination or accept it as a part of the job in exchange for being gainfully employed. If you face discrimination on the job, consult with a San Bernardino Employment Lawyer. It's possible that some advice can help you clear up problems at work or that filing a lawsuit is necessary to sort out the problem.

The Supreme Court decided 5-4 that the plaintiffs, which could be more than a million female workers, past and present, hadn't shown the company operated under a "general policy of discrimination," according to justices. The court ruled that they haven't shown that Wal-Mart, given its significant size of more than 4,300 stores, has a policy that every manager followed to discriminate against women.

The issue was whether 1.6 million current and former female employees could make a unified claim of systematic discrimination over the last decade, CNN reported. The plaintiffs alleged women were paid less than men and sought back pay and punitive damages. The lawsuit originated in Pittsburg, California, which is outside Oakland, by Betty Dukes, a greeter at a Wal-Mart store there.

While the Supreme Court decision broke up the possibility of a class-action lawsuit, it left open the possibility that more than 1 million past and present female workers could file individual cases against the retailer. A class action lawsuit means a group of plaintiffs who have similar claims against one defendant file one lawsuit jointly, as opposed to filing individual lawsuits.

The group lawsuit was first filed in 2001, Bloomberg reports, and the filing of any new individual gender-bias claims by women covered under the group case was put on hold. Now that the case has been disbanded, the hold has been lifted. By law, a plaintiff generally has 180 days from the date of discrimination to file a lawsuit. If a state or local agency enforces a law that prohibits discrimination on the same basis, a claimant has 300 days.

While some may think that the giant retailer facing potentially more than 1 million lawsuits is shocking, consider the statistics from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency responsible for enforcing federal discrimination laws.

In 2010, there were 99,922 charges of discrimination nationwide, the highest on record. That's a 25 percent increase in the last decade. The complaints relate to a person's race, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability and other factors. While a small percentage of those charges will ultimately be considered justified, there are many workers who believe they aren't being treated fairly. If you are one of them, call for a free consultation.

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A Houston-area woman has sued her former employer for age discrimination, alleging she was told to dye her gray hair and was fired after refusing to do so, the Houston Chronicle reports.

The Employment Law Team of Orange County is committed to helping employees who face discrimination for any reason, whether it's age, gender, race, sexual orientation or other factors. Penalizing someone for anything but a poor job performance is unlawful and mustn't go unpunished.

According to the newspaper, the woman worked as an escrow officer and branch manager at Capital Title of Texas after working her way up from receptionist, but was told in 2009 to dye her hair and wear younger-looking clothing, but she refused. She was replaced by a woman 10 years younger. Her job at the time was to close real estate transactions, requiring coordination among buyers, sellers, lenders, insurance companies and real estate agents. Her main account was a builder that generated 35 to 40 closings a month.

The lawsuit also claims that because the company was relocating to new digs in an upscale area of Houston, her bosses wanted her to wear "younger fancy suits" and lots of fancy jewelry.

Her former boss said no such discrimination occurred, but that she was replaced because one of its customers no longer wanted to do business with her. The allegations were called "completely baseless and preposterous" But the woman says she was never told of any performance complaints when she was fired.

While employees are able to set guidelines for the appearance of employees and take actions such as requiring uniforms, combed hair and tucked-in shirts, they can't take adverse actions against an employee based on age, sex, race, religion, national origin or disability. The woman has since taken a job at $18,000 per year less than she was making.

While it sounds obscene that an employer would instruct a woman to dye her hair in order to look younger, it does happen. Employers are always looking for optimum performance out of their employees and sometimes they take the idea too far.

Companies aren't allowed to require their workers to change their physical appearance in order to satisfy some kind of standard they've created. In this case, if the facts are true, it appears the woman was told to look nicer, which has no reflection on her ability to perform the job. It will be interesting to see if her company is able to prove any kind of documented performance issues occurred before she was asked to dye her hair.

Older employees who are fired simply because of their age, or those who aren't hired in the first place because employers falsely believe they won't be able to adapt to new technologies, can face emotional setbacks and a lack of earning potential in the future if they face discrimination. Finding a job is difficult right now for anyone and perhaps especially so for older workers. So, those who are unjustly terminated or passed over for opportunities and promotions should take action today.

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