Decision Prevents Class Action in Costco Case

SN STAFF

ISSAQUAH, Wash. — Costco Wholesale here won a federal court appeal preventing a gender-bias lawsuit from gaining nationwide class-action status.

The ruling, posted Friday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, cited Wal-Mart Stores’ recent Supreme Court victory in a similar gender-bias case. The Costco case involved 600 current and former employees who argued that female employees of Costco were promoted at a slower rate than men and were underrepresented at the managerial level as compared to peers. The decision said that a lower court ruled improperly as to the “commonality” among plaintiffs in the case.