Walmart faces another gender bias case

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NASHVILLE, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- U.S. retail giant Walmart discriminates against women with unequal pay and unfair promotions, plaintiffs allege in court papers filed in Nashville.

The lawsuit that covers Tennessee and four surrounding states was filed on behalf of three woman as part of a new strategy on the part of plaintiffs, whose earlier attempt to make a gender bias case against Walmart was dismissed by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2011.

The nation's highest court ruled the nationwide class action case representing millions of women was too broad and covered too many classes of employees to fit into one suit, The Tennessean reported Wednesday.

The lawsuit filed in Nashville is the third regional discrimination suit filed against Walmart since the Supreme Court rejected the nationwide case.

Class-action cases have also been filed in Northern California and Northern Texas. Both of those cases were filed in October 2011, the newspaper said.

In response, Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove said the regional cases were similar to the national case and were inappropriate as class-action lawsuits.

"Walmart has strong policies against discrimination," Hargrove added. The plaintiffs in the regional case filing "are not representative of the hundreds of thousands of employees who work at Walmart," he said.

Plaintiffs attorney David Garrison said the women "are standing up for thousands of their fellow workers to fight back against Walmart's discriminatory employment practices."