To settle a class action lawsuit charging that Wal-mart systematically denied warehouse employment to women between 1998-2005, the mega chain will pay nearly $12 million.
According to the suit, filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2001, the retailer ignored equally qualified female applicants for warehouse positions as order-fillers. The $12 million settlement will cover back wages and compensatory damages, as well as hiring women for the first 50 available order-filler positions and giving every other position in the next 50 availabilities after that to women as well (snap!). From then on, Wal-Mart will be required to hire one woman for every three order-filler jobs.
The EEOC has provided a standardized set of questions that must be addressed during future job interviews, and part of the settlement will also cover a special coordinator to oversee the new hiring process.
