The US Supreme Court is deciding whether to permit a class action to proceed, with potentially significant repercussions for female workers across the US. In Wal-Mart v. Dukes, Betty Dukes is among three women seeking to represent nearly 1.5 million current and former female employees of the supermarket chain Wal-Mart in the form of a class action.
Robin Conrad of the US Chamber of Commerce has described it as "the most important class-action case facing the court in over a decade". The US Supreme Court is being asked to decide whether or not the facts warrant a class certification, which would enable the class action to proceed. The Court would have to be satisfied that the Walmart female employees "share common legal or factual questions about their claims".
The women allege that they were discriminated against on account of their gender in a number of areas, such as being denied management training and being subject to retaliation for engaging the internal grievance procedures.
Please click here to read a Guardian article.
Please click here to view an Irish Times article.
Meanwhile the Irish Property Council (IPC) is seeking a suitable plaintiff to take a test case against the Irish government regarding alleged negligence and mismanagement of the Irish economy. Please click here to view the IPC press release.
Irish legislation does not provide for the class action model but does provide for a "representative action", which has been noted as being limited in scope. Readers of the Bulletin who wish to know more are referred to Professor Gerry Whyte's leading textbook on public interest law, "Social Inclusion and the legal system: public interest law in Ireland", Institute of Public Administration, 2005.
Please click here to view a Law Reform Commission report from 2005 proposing legislation providing for multi-party actions.