Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/10pdf/10-277.pdf
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WAL-MART STORES, INC. v. DUKES 

Opinion of the Court 

40 and 53 separate departments and 80 to 500 staff posi-
In  all,  Wal-Mart  operates  approximately  3,400
tions. 
stores and employs more than one million people. 

Pay and promotion decisions at Wal-Mart are generally 
committed  to  local  managers’  broad  discretion,  which  is
exercised  “in  a  largely  subjective  manner.”    222  F.  R.  D. 
137,  145  (ND  Cal.  2004).    Local  store  managers  may  in-
crease the wages of hourly employees (within limits) with 
only  limited  corporate  oversight.    As  for  salaried  employ-
ees,  such  as  store  managers  and  their  deputies,  higher 
corporate authorities have discretion to set their pay with-
in preestablished ranges.

Promotions  work  in  a  similar  fashion.    Wal-Mart  per-
mits store managers to apply their own subjective criteria
when selecting candidates as “support managers,” which is
the  first  step  on  the  path  to  management.    Admission  to 
Wal-Mart’s management training program, however, does 
require  that  a  candidate  meet  certain  objective  criteria,
including  an  above-average  performance  rating,  at  least 
one year’s tenure in the applicant’s current position, and a 
willingness to relocate.  But except for those requirements, 
regional and district managers have discretion to use their 
own judgment when selecting candidates for management 
training.  Promotion to higher office—e.g., assistant man-
ager,  co-manager,  or  store  manager—is  similarly  at  the 
discretion  of  the  employee’s  superiors  after  prescribed
objective factors are satisfied. 

B 
The  named  plaintiffs  in  this  lawsuit,  representing  the
1.5  million  members  of  the  certified  class,  are  three  cur-
rent  or  former  Wal-Mart  employees  who  allege  that  the
company discriminated against them on the basis of their 
sex by denying them equal pay or promotions, in violation 
of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 78 Stat. 253, as