Three Women Score Huge Win In Court Battle Over Equal Pay
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Three women recently scored a massive win against Oracle Corp. in California court. The three female employees gained the right to represent thousands of other workers in a gender discrimination lawsuit alleging pay was based on gender. The judge certified class action allowing the suit to advance on behalf of over 4,000 women claiming the company pays men more to do the same job as female workers. Class certification in this case is a legal milestone that women in similar cases against other tech giants have failed to reach.
Are Jobs Substantially Equal or Similar?
The California judge that certified class, California Superior Court Judge V. Raymond Swope in Redwood City, issued a ruling rejecting the company’s claim that each plaintiff’s claims were individual cases. The company claimed people in their employ with the same job code did not necessarily perform substantially similar job duties. The judge pointed out that determining whether or not the jobs were substantially equal or similar was a question of fact for the jury. Judge Swope’s ruling gives the women critical leverage as they pursue the case under California’s Equal Pay Act.
Hoping for Equal Pay in the Tech Industry:
The plaintiffs in the case hope that their fight against Oracle will help get women at the company fair pay and that by waging this fight, they can help women throughout the entire tech industry get closer to equal pay. Similar cases with female plaintiffs seeking equal pay from tech companies tend to have difficulty gaining traction. Similar cases have had similar results in other industries, as well.
Similar Claims Failed to Gain Traction in the Fight for Equal Pay:
For instance, in 2011, 1.5 million female Walmart workers were blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court when they tried to pursue discrimination claims as a group. Female engineers at Twitter Inc. and Microsoft Corp. got similar results. The courts seem to hesitate to certify classes making broad gender discrimination claims. However, California’s legislature made it easier to bring a class-wide suit based on gender pay disparities.
If you need to discuss employment law violations or if you need to file a gender pay discrimination lawsuit, please get in touch with Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik DeBlouw LLP. Experienced employment law attorneys are ready to assist you in any one of various law firm offices located in San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Chicago.
