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Over 500 female Wal-Mart workers file EEOC charges to preserve litigation rights

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WASHINGTON—In an effort to protect their right to pursue individual and class action pay and promotion claims, more than 500 current and former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. female employees who had been part of a national class action lawsuit have filed discrimination charges against the retailer with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as of Jan. 27, plaintiffs attorneys involved in the case said Thursday.

Jan. 27 was the deadline for women in five states—Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi and North Carolina—to pursue their claims, according to a joint statement issued by plaintiffs representatives Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll P.L.L.C., based in Washington, and the Impact Fund, based in Berkeley, Calif.

The statement said about 430 of the charges have been filed in those states since the June 2011 U.S. Supreme Court decision that reversed a lower court ruling certifying a national class action against Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart.

Women in all other states who previously filed class action claims against Wal-Mart and its Sam's Club subsidiary have until May 25 to file an EEOC claim, according to the statement.

Joseph Sellers, of Cohen Milstein, and Impact fund executive director Brad Seligman said in a statement, “The Supreme Court did not give Wal-Mart a free pass to discriminate. Filing an EEOC claim is one more way current and former women employees of Wal-Mart can assert their rights.”

A Wal-Mart spokesman said, “We continue to believe that anyone with a legitimate claim should have their day in court. It’s also important to remember that these claims have never actually been heard on their merits,” and as the U.S. Supreme Court noted in its decision last year, the company “has strict policies against discrimination and the plaintiffs were worlds away from showing otherwise.”

The spokesman said also Wal-Mart is a “great place to work” and “we’re ready to defend our record because it’s a record to be proud of.”

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