Wal-Mart asks judge to reject Texas class-action bias suit

Wal-Mart Stores asked a federal judge in Dallas to reject a proposed class-action lawsuit in which women allege that the world's largest retailer discriminated against Texas female workers over pay and promotions.

The company said the statute of limitations bars the claims. "The time for asserting class allegations on these claims has passed," it said Monday in court papers.

And the case can't be pursued as a class action because the claims made by the plaintiffs have little in common, Wal-Mart said.

"The complaint does not allege any facts that would establish a class-wide policy of discrimination," it said.

Some of the women who sued allege denial of promotion opportunities but not pay differences, the company said. Others allege pay discrimination but not promotion differences, it said.

"Some advanced quickly within Wal-Mart while others apparently never pursued managerial advancement," it said.

The suit was filed in October on behalf of women working in Texas Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores from Dec. 26, 1998, until at least June 2004.

It came in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June that barred treatment of gender-bias claims against Wal-Mart as a national class action.

"They claim that this is exactly the same case as the one the Supreme Court looked at, and that's completely wrong," Hal K. Gillespie, an attorney for the women, said about the company's motion. "It's evident this is very different."

"We have a Supreme Court case that supports us, not them," he said.

Certification as a class action would raise the number of plaintiffs from seven to 45,000, according to the women's complaint. Otherwise they would have to sue individually.

Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Ark., said in its motion that the plaintiffs are trying to take "a second bite at the certification apple" after the Supreme Court decision.

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source:  Ft. Worth Star-Telegram (Korosec, 3/6)