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Saw a couple of interesting items over the last several days...

First, the Supreme Court recently held that workers who quit their jobs over sexual harassment can indeed sue their employers. The case had gotten to the Supreme Court after a Pennsylvania State Police dispatcher had claimed that her bosses had routinely harassed her by telling her dirty jokes and acting out certain sex acts. She ultimately quit and sued the department for sexual harassment. The Department in the lower courts had apparently moved to dismiss the case, arguing that it had an effective policy in place at the time to deal with harassment and the plaintiff hadn't taken advantage of it before she quit. Judge Ginsburg noted that the case demonstrated clear issues of a hostile work environment. At the same time however, she said the appeals court had not given the state police department an opportunity to defend itself. The opinion apparently overturned the appeals court decision reinstating the case, and sent the case back for additional proceedings. Interestingly Judge Clarence Thomas was the lone dissenter. Judge Thomas feld the employer should only be liable if they are proven to be negligent in permitting sexaully harassing behavior to occur. And Judge Thomas should have an excellent insight into what constitutes sexually harassing behavior.

And that most American of institutions, Wal-Mart is being accused of sex discrimination against women. The Chicago Tribune recently reported that a federal judge in San Francisco granted class action status last week to a lawsuit claiming Wal-Mart systematically discriminated against women in pay and promotions. The class currently has 1.5 million claimants and in considered to be the largest private civle rights matter on record in terms of plaintiffs. Judge Martin Jenkins, in his ruling noted that among other things that there is a disparity in pay for nearly every position; that women are paid less than men in every region in the Country and women take longer to break into management. One store manager was quoted as telling a female employee: "Men are here to make a career and women aren't. Retail is for housewives who just need to earn extra money." Given the sheer size of the class, most experts are predicting the case will settle, although Wal-Mart has been known to aggressively defend itself in most lawsuits. Don't see that happening in this case though - a defeat for Wal-Mart could be devastating.