Opinion ID: 78615
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Commonality, Typicality, and Manageability of Promotion Claims

Text: The district court certified Plaintiffs' promotion claims for injunctive and declaratory relief and punitive damages, but concluded that manageability concerns required that any lost pay remedy on Plaintiffs' promotion claim would be limited to that subset of the class for whom objective applicant data exists. Dukes, 222 F.R.D. at 183. Wal-Mart objects to the certification of Plaintiffs' promotion claims, even with this limitation, on commonality and manageability grounds. Plaintiffs, on the other hand, object to the district court's limitation of eligibility for back pay to positions for which objective applicant data exist. Title VII pattern and practice class actions frequently include both salary and promotion claims. See, e.g., Bazemore v. Friday, 478 U.S. 385, 406, 106 S.Ct. 3000, 92 L.Ed.2d 315 (1986) (per curiam); Cooper, 467 U.S. at 870, 104 S.Ct. 2794. As discussed above, the district court found that Plaintiffs here have provided evidence sufficient to support their contention that company-wide corporate practices and policies  including excessive subjectivity in personnel decisions, gender stereotyping, and maintenance of a strong corporate culture  affected both compensation and promotion of all Plaintiffs in a common manner. Dukes, 222 F.R.D. at 166. Although there may be some variation among individual promotion decisions, variation does not prevent class certification of common issues of fact. See Hanlon, 150 F.3d at 1019 (Rule 23(a)(2) has been construed permissively. All questions of fact and law need not be common to satisfy the rule.). Given its findings regarding Wal-Mart's company-wide promotion policies and minimum guidelines, see Dukes, 222 F.R.D. at 148-49, the district court did not abuse its discretion by concluding that there was a sufficient common factual basis among putative class members' promotion claims to satisfy Rule 23(a)(2). We also affirm the district court's conclusion that a back pay remedy for promotion claims would be manageable only with respect to those positions for which objective applicant data is available to document class member interest. Dukes, 222 F.R.D. at 183. Wal-Mart's extensive database containing information on each employee individually with respect to job history, seniority, job review ratings, and many other factors, see id. at 183-85, would enable a determination of each class member's qualifications for promotion without the need for potentially unmanageable individualized hearings. The district court did not abuse its discretion by limiting eligibility for back pay, however, because allowing class members to demonstrate post hoc their previous interest in promotions might indeed be unmanageable. See id. at 181-82.