Appellate court rejects Wal-Mart arguments, returns former Lubbock employee to discrimination suit
A federal appellate court on Monday, March 31, reinstated the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit filed by a former Lubbock Wal-Mart employee who claims the retail giant denied her and other women pay raises and promotions on the basis of gender.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a Dallas judge’s dismissal of a suit filed by Stephanie Odle claiming she was denied promotions to a top store management position and eventually fired for pressing the issue.
Wal-Mart attorneys argued to U.S. District Judge Reed C. O’Connor in Dallas that Odle waited too long after being removed as a plaintiff in a similar nationwide class-action suit to file her own case.
Odle had been a co-plaintiff in the Betty Dukes v. Wal-Mart case, filed in federal court in Northern California in 2001, but a San Francisco appellate court had ruled that on the one hand former employees weren’t entitled to injunctive relief, but could be considered a class of employees who may have been eligible for back pay and punitive damages.
More at http://lubbockonline.com/crime-and-courts/courts/2014-04-01/appellate-court-rejects-wal-mart-arguments-returns-former-lubbock .