On the fourth day of its “12 Days of Giving” Facebook campaign, Wal-Mart is awarding $85,000 to 11 nonprofits that provide clothing to those in need. Over twelve consecutive days, Wal-Mart will award a total of $1.5 million to 145 organizations in all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico.

“It’s necessary for families to have access to warm clothing and many wish lists this holiday season include essentials like socks, coats and gloves,” said Julie Gehrki, senior director at the Wal-Mart Foundation. “The organizations we are honoring today make these wishes come true, keeping families warm this holiday season by providing clothes to those in-need.”

Wal-Mart’s call for nominations for its “12 Days of Giving” Facebook campaign resulted in more than 5,400 nominations from Facebook users who shared photos and short descriptions of a nonprofit’s impact in its local community. A panel from the Wal-Mart Foundation reviewed submissions and selected nonprofits with a focus on organizations that are providing basic needs such as food, shelter, clothing and baby supplies.

The fourth day of giving highlights organizations that gather and distribute free and discounted clothing such as coats, shoes, work attire, socks, gloves and other necessities to children, low income families and the homeless. The organizations being spotlighted today include:

Including this campaign, the Walmart Foundation is providing more than $19 million in grants this holiday season.

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In a relatively non-shocking decision, the United States Supreme Court has sided with corporate giant Wal-Mart in a sex discrimination suit. The plaintiffs in the case were seeking to make the sexual discrimination lawsuit into a class-action, involving up to 1.6 million women. The decision has far-reaching implications for employee rights and big corporations.

The justices voted along party lines by a vote to 5-4,reversing an earlier decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The High Court said there were too many women in too many jobs at Wal-Mart to form into a class action suit. Wal-Mart could have faced billions of dollars in damages. The few women who brought the case are prepared to bring claims against the retail giant on their own. Of course, individual lawsuits will place much less pressure on Wal-Mart and involve less money. Two of the named plaintiffs, Christine Kwapnoski and Betty Dukes, attended the argument. Kwapnoski is an assistant manager at a Sam’s Club in Concord, Calif. Dukes is a greeter at the Wal-Mart in Pittsburg, Calif.

In a statement, Wal-Mart said, “The court today unanimously rejected class certification and, as the majority made clear, the plaintiffs’ claims were worlds away from showing a companywide discriminatory pay and promotion policy.”

Dukes and Kwapnoski said they were disappointed in the ruling, but vowed to push ahead with their claims. Both women spoke on a conference call with reporters. “We still are determined to go forward to present our case in court. We believe we will prevail there,” Dukes said. “All I have to say is when I go back to work tomorrow, I’m going to let them know we are still fighting,” Kwapnoski.

Other advocates were also disappointed with the Supreme Court decision. Marcia D. Greenberger, co-president of the National Women’s Law Center, said “the court has told employers that they can rest easy, knowing that the bigger and more powerful they are, the less likely their employees will be able to join together to secure their rights.”

The Supreme Court agreed with Wal-Mart’s argument that being forced to defend the treatment of female employees regardless of the jobs they hold or where they work is unfair. Justice Antonin Scalia’s opinion for the court’s conservative majority said there need to be common elements tying together “literally millions of employment decisions at once,” which he felt was absent in this case.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for the court’s four liberal justices, said there was more than enough uniting the claims. “Wal-Mart’s delegation of discretion over pay and promotions is a policy uniform throughout all stores,” Ginsburg said.

Both sides have argued that the ruling could have severe consequences. The business community, who supported Wal-Mart, has said that a ruling for the women would lead to a flood of class-action lawsuits based on vague evidence. Supporters of the women, including civil rights groups, feared that a decision in favor of Wal-Mart could remove a valuable weapon for fighting all sorts of discrimination.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/drewesque/

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An enormous lawsuit against Wal-Mart for charges of sex discrimination was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday.  At stake is whether the suit can go forward as a class action that could involve 500,000 to 1.6 million women, according to varying estimates, and potentially could cost the world’s largest retailer billions of dollars.

Women employees at the retail giant claim that men make more money and get promoted faster than their female counterparts.  One plaintiff in the suit said she was told to “doll up” and “blow the cobwebs off her make-up.”  The suit was originally filed 10 years ago and Wal-Mart has been fighting the litigation every step of the way.  It is the biggest litigation threat that the company has ever faced.

The lawsuit, however, has much further implications beyond the original claim of discrimination.  Discrimination suits are much more powerful when they are presented together as a class action suit and can often force change.  Columbia University law professor John Coffee said that the high court could bring a virtual end to employment discrimination class actions filed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, depending on how it decides the Wal-Mart case.  “Litigation brought by individuals under Title VII is just too costly,” Coffee said. “It’s either class action or nothing.”

Wal-Mart wants the Supreme Court to stop the lawsuit, even though a trial judge and the federal appeals court in San Francisco has allowed the suit to go forward.  Wal-Mart argues it includes too many women with too many different positions.  The company claims that its policies prohibit discrimination and that most management decisions are made at store and regional levels.   Theodore J. Boutrous, Wal-Mart’s California-based lawyer, said there is no evidence that women are poorly treated at Wal-Mart. “The evidence is the contrary of that,” Boutrous said.

Wal-Mart is not saying that no women face discrimination but feels that these incidents would be isolated.  “People will make errors,” said Gisel Ruiz, Wal-Mart’s executive vice president for people, as the company calls its human resources unit. “People are people.”

The suit, citing what are now dated figures from 2001, contends that women are poorly represented among managers, holding just 14 percent of store manager positions compared with more than 80 percent of lower-ranking supervisory jobs that are paid by the hour. Wal-Mart responds that women in its retail stores made up two-thirds of all employees and two-thirds of all managers in 2001.

A ruling is expected by late June in the hearing.

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