- Consider the above referenced problem. Respond with your thoughts on the questions presented. Support your responses with legal and/or ethical reasoning. Make sure your return later in the week to see if anyone replied to your post and discussed your ideas.
Question #5: In 2011 Walmart was hit with the largest employment discrimination lawsuit in history, and the lawsuit was brought to the Supreme Court. The problems began when a female employee named Stephanie Odle found out that a male employee with the same title as hers yet less experience was earning $10,000 a year more than she was. Subsequently, she was fired when she complained about the discovery. In fact, her boss defended the salary difference, saying that the male employee should make more because he was supporting a family, even though Odle was pregnant and thus trying to save up for her family as well. The lawsuit is so large because it contains complaints from 1.5 million female Walmart employees with similar stories. However, Walmart argues that there are too many significant differences among the 1.5 million cases and that the complaints may not be brought under a single-action lawsuit. On the other hand, a group of 31 civil procedure professors created a brief saying that the women have the core point in common: Walmart discriminated against the women. In addition, because Walmart is a large corporation with an extensive litigation team and a huge amount of resources, the women need to bring their complaints to court together to stand a chance. How do you think the Supreme Court will decide? Do you think the cases among the women will be similar enough to stand under one action because there is a core ultimate problem? Do you think Walmart will win because of the resources it has as a huge corporation? [Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Betty Dukes et al., 131 S. Ct. 2541 (2011).].
