Quoted from Blog - Posted on March 29, 2011 by Regina Caffey Zellars

"On Tuesday , when the Supreme Court opens for oral arguments, employees across the country — especially women — should be very interested. The high court is hearing arguments on a long-running gender discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer. At issue: whether women who have worked at the company will be granted class-action status to sue the company for discrimination (Led by Wal-Mart veterans Betty Dukes and Christine Kwapnoski, this would be the largest class-action suit in history, with between 600,000 and 1.5 million potential plaintiffs)...

...A study from the American Association of University Women stated: “One year out of college, women working fulltime earn only 80 percent as much as their male colleagues earn. Ten years after graduation, women fall farther behind, earning only 69 percent as much as men earn. Controlling for hours, occupation, parenthood, and other factors normally associated with pay, college-educated women still earn less than their male peers earn.”

Can employers, any employer, afford to continue to offend women, the emerging majority in the workplace, by paying them less than their male counterparts and thwarting their access to promotional opportunities?  Will it take a lawsuit or the threat of one to rectify this longstanding problem?