Tennessee sex-discrimination claim against Wal-Mart dismissed

Nashville -- A federal judge in Nashville said Wednesday that Wal-Mart Stores’ female employees in Tennessee and four other southern states cannot pursue sex-discrimination claims against Wal-Mart through a class action lawsuit. The class action is denied because it was filed too late.



According to U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger, the class claims are “time-barred,” citing a 1988 decision by the federal appeals court in Cincinnati in a separate case, known as Andrews v. Orr, which blocks the women from joining a new class action.



Judge Trauger didn’t rule on the merits of the women’s claims.



The lawsuit was filed in Nashville last year by three women who claimed that Wal-Mart paid women less than men in comparable jobs and blocked promotions for female workers in five southern states.