Female workers at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in Tennessee and four other southern states will not be allowed to pursue sex- discrimination claims against the retailer through a class action, or group lawsuit, according to a federal court ruling Wednesday (Feb. 20).
“The class claims are time-barred,” U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger noted in her 54- page decision.
“Unless this court finds that Andrews is no longer good law, the court is constrained to apply the holding in Andrews to this case.”
Trauger didn’t rule on the merits of the women’s claims.
The lawsuit – Phipps v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., 12-cv-01009, U.S. District Court, Middle District of Tennessee – was filed in Nashville last year on the merit that women were blocked from promotions and paid less than men in comparable jobs. The plaintiffs sought to proceed on behalf of Wal-Mart’s female employees in Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia and Mississippi.
The suit is the one of four regional gender-discrimination claims filed against Wal-Mart following a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2011 rejecting a nationwide class action. A Texas class action suit was dismissed in October. Suits were also filed in California and Florida.