Business & Tech

Another Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Walmart; Former Lake Elsinore Store Worker Joins Ranks

Former Walmart employee Deborah Gunter claims she was discriminated against while working at the Lake Elsinore store.

It was announced this week that a group of many of those same women involved in the Dukes v. Walmart Stores, Inc. lawsuit originally filed in 2001 have filed another class action lawsuit, and among the plaintiffs is a woman who once worked at the giant retailer's Lake Elsinore store.

Deborah Gunter joined the Dukes v. Walmart fight in 2003 after being employed by the big box chain for nearly four years during the 1990s. The Palm Springs resident worked at various Walmart stores across the nation but ended her career with the giant retailer after working approximately three months in the Lake Elsinore store.

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According to Gunter’s version of accounts, in May 1998 she requested a transfer to the Perris Walmart from a City of Riverside location to be closer to home and return to day shifts. Once in Perris, Gunter lobbied unsuccessfully to become a manager in the store’s Tires & Lubrication Express Department, but was repeatedly passed over in favor of male employees she trained, according to her version of accounts.

Additionally, she alleges her Perris manager told her she wasn’t qualified for the management position.

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“This really angered me because I had asked [the manager] for additional training on the computer several times and he had always told me that he was too busy to train me,” Gunter said.

According to Gunter, the atmosphere at the Perris store became “unbearable” so in May 1999 she was transferred to the Tires & Lubrication Express Department at the Lake Elsinore store.

“The Perris TLE manager told me to my face that he was glad to get rid of me,” she said.

In Lake Elsinore, Gunter alleges she was again asked to train a male associate for management duties. She was told the male employee would simply be closing the department on nights when she wasn’t working, but her hours were cut after his training was complete, according to her version of accounts.

“I was furious and began complaining . . . that I could not support myself on such reduced hours,” she said. “In addition to losing wages, my benefits were also at risk of being cut if I did not work enough hours to qualify for coverage.”

In mid-August 1999, Gunter alleges she told her Lake Elsinore manager she needed to have her hours back or she would resign and she requested a meeting with her district manager.

According to Gunter’s version, several days later she was informed the district manager would not meet with her nor would her hours increase. She claims she was handed $800 in cash as exit pay and an exit interview form to sign.

On behalf of Gunter and many of the other women in the Dukes v. Walmart case, Hadsell Stormer Richardson & Renick LLP filed a motion for class certification in federal court on April 15. This time around, some 150,000 current and former Walmart and Sam’s Club employees allege they were discriminated against based on gender, and the plaintiffs’ attorneys say the case is different this time around.

The current case for class certification is "markedly different" from the case that went to the Supreme Court in size and scope, according to plaintiffs' counsel Christine Webber, of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC.

"We are asking the District Court to grant certification of these narrower classes based on our conviction that they are in full compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court's new guidelines for class actions in employment discrimination cases," Webber said.

In the 5-4 opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court justices in the 2011 Dukes v. Walmart case, many argue the decision made it more difficult for workers to join together in a common lawsuit unless they can clearly identify a common injury, such as a company-wide discriminatory policy.

And that’s what plaintiffs’ attorneys currently argue they have.

"The women who first brought this case have waited over 12 years to have their claims heard. Without a class action, their rights cannot be vindicated," said co-lead counsel Randy Renick. "It is time that the merits of their claims against Walmart are heard in court."


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