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  3. The employment discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart, which the Supreme Court heard last week, is the largest in American hist

The employment discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart, which the Supreme Court heard last week, is the largest in American hist

admin2012-05-28  81
问题     The employment discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart, which the Supreme Court heard last week, is the largest in American history. If the court rejects this suit, it will send a chilling message that some companies are too big to be held accountable (负有责任的).
    It began in 1999 after Stephanie Odle was fired when she complained of sex discrimination. As Ms. Odle described in sworn testimony, as an assistant manager she discovered that a male employee with the same title and less experience was making $10,000 a year more than her.
    She complained to her boss, who defended the difference by saying the male had a family to support. When she replied that she was having a baby that she needed to support, the supervisor made her provide a personal budget and then gave her a raise closing just one-fifth the gap.
    The plaintiffs (原告) who have brought a class action on behalf of 1.5 million current and former female Wal-Mart employees allege that they, too, faced discrimination in pay and promotion. If Wal-Mart loses, it could owe more than $1 billion in back pay.
    Wal-Mart has tried to end the litigation (诉讼) by arguing that 1.5 million women do not have enough in common to sue for discrimination as a single class under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. A federal trial judge said they do. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld that ruling, twice.
    But during oral argument last week, conservative justices and liberals to some degree expressed skepticism: Is there enough "cohesion (一致性)" among the women to justify treating them as a single class?
    A brief by 31 professors of civil procedure explains why the women are a suitable class. Their claims meet the core test: They have in common the question of whether Wal-Mart discriminated against them. Meanwhile, the high cost of litigation compared to the low likely individual recoveries would make it hard for the women to proceed any other way.
    The average wage gap each year for every member of the class is around $1,100, too little to give lawyers an incentive to represent them. The best way to judge their rights efficiently and fairly is by recognizing them as a group. That is the purpose of the class-action rule.
    The case record contains 120 sworn statements describing sex discrimination in pay and promotion but also in the work environment: required company fishing trips where women weren’t included on their male peers’ boat; a supposedly revenge-free system for complaints that led to women being fired. The lower courts ruled that this and other evidence provide compelling reasons for the case to move forward.
What will it mean if the Supreme Court dismisses the Wal-Mart case, according to the author?
选项 A、Wal-Mart didn’t discriminate against its women employees before.
B、Some large companies can escape punishment if they break the law.
C、It is difficult for employees to win an employment discrimination lawsuit.
D、The decision of the Supreme Court was apparently partial to Wal-Mart.
答案B
解析 根据题干中的the Supreme Court dismisses the Wal-Martcase将本题出处定位到首段末句。该句提到，如果法院驳回诉讼，将会传达一个令人寒心的信息：某些公司因为规模大而无需负责。由此可知，作者认为如果法院驳回诉讼，那就意味着一些公司在违法后可以逃避制裁，故答案为[B]。[A]与第四段首句矛盾，且不是这一案件被驳回所表达的信息，故排除。[C]和[D]是针对If the court rejects this suit设的干扰项。
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