Walmart has recently asked the Supreme Court to overturn a court ruling from 2001 that would allow 1.5 million women who have been employed by the company to join together in a gender discrimination class action lawsuit.
Gender discrimination lawsuits are said to usually be brought to court by one employee at a time, but the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco voted 6 to 5 to uphold the class action status of the lawsuit originally filed by six women back in 2001. The lawsuit claims that Walmart has engaged in gender discrimination by paying female employees less than male employees and passing women over for promotions that ultimately were given to men, despite women’s higher performance ratings.
If this lawsuit is not blocked by the Supreme Court, it will be the largest class-action employment lawsuit in history. California has upheld the creation of the massive class of plaintiffs, which include all women who have worked in any of Walmart’s 3,400 stores across the country from 1998 to present. Lawyers for Walmart have stated that the class action process will undercut Walmart’s ability to defend itself against charges that they intentionally discriminated against each of the 1.5 million women who are plaintiffs in this case, who, as the chief judge added have “held a multitude of jobs, at different levels of Walmart’s hierarchy, for variable lengths of time, in 3,400 stores, sprinkled across 50 states, with a kaleidoscope of supervisors (male and female), subject to a variety of regional policies that all differed depending on each class member’s job, location and period of employment.”
A decision by the justices seeing over this case is not expected until sometime next year so it may very well be decided that the 1.5 million women will not be able to sue Walmart as part of a class action lawsuit. However, if all, or even a percentage of these women decide to sue Walmart on their own for discrimination, Walmart could find themselves in court quite often for a lengthy period of time for each lawsuit.
The French Parliament recently approved banning the burqa, a loose dress and veil that is worn by some Muslim women.
According to Wikipedia, the burqa is an enveloping outer garment worn by women in some Islamic traditions for the purpose of hiding a female’s body when out in public. It is worn over the usual daily clothing (often a long dress) and removed when the woman returns to the sanctuary of the household, out of the view of men that are not their husbands, fathers, brothers, uncles, sons and grandsons.
The burqa ban was supposed in a landslide vote of 336 to 1 and also holds the support of around 80% of French citizens. Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie stated after the votes were in that the ban is a “victory for humanitarian values that are the foundations of the greatness of France.”
Amnesty International’s expert on discrimination in Europe feels a great deal differently than the lower house of Parliament on the burqa ban, saying “A complete ban on the covering of the face would violate the rights to freedom of expression and religion of those women who wear the burqa or the niqab in public as an expression of their identity or beliefs.”
From here, the ban will need to be approved by the full Parliament, but it is still likely to face challenges. The French Council of State has already advised that “no incontestable legal basis can be found for an outright and generalized ban on the wearing of the full veil.” If the ban is passed by the full Parliament, it will result in making those wearing the burqa pay a fine of approximately $200. If a man is found forcing a woman to wear a burqa against her will, that man will also face some steep consequences, including a $40,000 fine and a year in jail.
St. Louis already had sexual orientation listed under their anti-discrimination policy for basic protections of housing, public accommodations and employment. While people who are gay, lesbian, or bisexual were already covered under the anti-discrimination policy, there was still room for people to openly discriminate against trans people.
Alderman Shane Cohn introduced Board Bill 67 in late May, which will add gender identity to the list of people protected by the anti-discrimination law. Since the bill’s introduction, it gained many co-sponsors and passed through the court with unanimous support.
Mayor Slay will sign the legislation as early as next week. When the bill did so well within the court, Alderman Cohn stated, “In order to remain competitive in today’s marketplace and respect every member of the Saint Louis community, I am proud to have sponsored this bill.” PROMO Executive Director A.J. Bockelman also said, “This is a great step forward not just for Saint Louis, but for all of Missouri. As we increase the number of people covered by basic protections, we will reach a tipping point where the Missouri Nondiscrimination Act, extending these same protections to all LGBT Missourians, becomes the natural next step.”
If you live in the St. Louis area, you can send an email to thank Alderman Cohn at cohns@stlouiscity.com.
Tags: Alderman Shane Cohn, anti-discrimination policies, Current Events, discrimination, employment discrimination, housing discrimination, LGBT rights, Missouri Nondiscrimination Act, Politics, trans issues, World
Lori Tharps grew up in the white suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, went to private school, attended a prestigious college, and continuously never felt a sense of belonging among her own people and a part of her own culture. While her life may not be too unlike the lives led by thousands of other American people, her accomplishments and her journey through life makes for an intriguing and captivating memoir.
Tharps’ memoir starts off when she is in the third grade, listening to her teacher tell the class about an International Day bazaar where the students would be participating by sharing their cultures in the form of food, games, decorations, and dress reflecting their native countries. Being the only black girl in her class and one of only a handful in her entire private school, the prospect of International Day weighed on her mind and brought her to the conclusion that on that day, her classmates would realize that she was different than they were; that she was less than them. Deciding not to attend school in costume that day because she did not want to attend school dressed as a slave, she went throughout the day in a panic, hoping that no one would ask her why she was not dressed in a costume reflecting her heritage. Throughout the following school years of Tharps’ life, similar thoughts and memories arise very much like her third grade International Day bazaar. She was raised in a privileged household and attended private school and for a fraction of one particular school year when she was nudged into the public school system, Tharps was received as a snob who was trying to “act white” by the other black girls she had wanted to fit in with, was ostracized by other black young women during her college years, and that was just the beginning of the racial dilemmas she would encounter throughout her life.
From a young age, Tharps became infatuated with Spain; knowing that Spain was her destiny and that she would someday live there. While in college, she traveled to Morocco with the American Field Service, but later studied abroad in Spain, where she came face to face with the culture she never knew Spain to have. She notices that a great deal of products, such as something as simple as a chocolate bar, has racist connotations, but when she brings them to the attention of Spanish natives, they are quick to declare that Spain is not a racist place. But after falling in love with a Spaniard, getting married, and having children, she spends a great deal of time traveling to Spain and her memoir becomes a detective story on how Spain had been involved in slavery. Throughout her life in Spain, Lori Tharps had searched for where the kinky mixed with the gazpacho.
I absolutely loved this memoir; it was a simple and lightweight read that packed a punch of reality that is undeniable. I devoured her memoir in utter anticipation of what her next move in life would be and was overjoyed over her boldness and determination to uncover a black past in a country where most of its citizen were unaware of the world that had come before and still revolved around them. The only flaw with the book is that it leaves you wanting to know and experience more of her life and general thoughts. Kinky Gazpacho will bring you on a journey that is so much more than merely a life led by a woman who dares to open her mouth and question her surroundings.
Tags: book review, books, Books & Authors, discrimination, Entertainment, Kinky Gazpacho, Lori Tharps, memoirs, racism, slavery, women of color
