Tennessee District Court Dismisses Untimely Class Claims Filed Against Wal-Mart, But Provides Roadmap For Appellate Review

As we discussed previously here, in the wake of the class certification denial by the U.S. Supreme Court in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 131 S. Ct. 2541 (2011), three named plaintiffs filed a third lawsuit against Wal-Mart entitled Phipps, et al. v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., No. 3:12-CV-01009, 2013 WL 752152 (W.D. Tenn. Feb. 20, 2013), alleging sex discrimination on behalf of a class of present and former female Wal-Mart retail store employees who have been subjected to purported gender discrimination. The claims are similar to the original Dukes case. However, the plaintiffs “rebooted” their claims and focused them in a different way, with new region-specific allegations related to “Region 43”— a region allegedly centered in Middle and Western Tennessee, and including portions of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, and Mississippi. The Phipps plaintiffs allege, for Region 43: (1) denial of equal pay for hourly retail store positions; (2) denial of equal pay for salaried management positions up to, and including, Co-Manager; and (3) denial of equal opportunities for promotion to management track positions up to, and including, Store Manager. 

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