Dukes vs. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is the largest civil rights class-action suit in American history. It charges Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retail chain, with discriminating against women in promotions, pay and job assignments, in violation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which protects workers from discrimination on the basis of sex, race, religion or national origin.
The case started in 2000, when a 54-year-old Wal-Mart worker in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, named Betty Dukes filed a sex discrimination claim against her employer. Despite six years of hard work and excellent performance reviews, Dukes claimed, she was denied the training she needed to advance to a higher, salaried position. The suit was eventually expanded to represent 1.6 million women, comprising both current and former employees, and was certified in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. In June 2004, the California judge ruled in favor of the women. Wal-Mart is appealing the decision.
In 2004, leftist Liza Featherstone published a book about the case, Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Workers' Rights at Wal-Mart in which she contends that Wal-Mart's success is based not only on its inexpensive merchandise or its popularity but also on bad labor practices.
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