9th Circuit Panel Strains to Understand Microsoft Policies in Pay Equity Class Action
Lieff Cabraser's Anne Shaver, representing the plaintiffs, got a lot of questions from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit about Microsoft's employment practices. Citing Walmart v. Dukes, Judge Johnnie Rawlinson told her, "I don't feel there is a policy that's been pointed out."
November 04, 2019 at 05:44 PM
4 minute read
The original version of this story was published on The Recorder
A lawyer bringing a gender discrimination class action against Microsoft Corp. faced tough questions Monday from a federal appeals court panel struggling to understand the process by which the software giant determined its pay and promotions.
Anne Shaver, a partner at San Francisco's Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, tried to convince the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to reinstate a nationwide class action alleging Microsoft systematically discriminated against more than 8,600 female engineers and information technology professionals, in both pay and promotions. The panelists peppered her with questions about how Microsoft evaluated its employees, and Judge Johnnie Rawlinson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit repeatedly asked her to identify the policy at issue.
"But under Dukes, we have to find what the policy is because the policy has to operate across the board," said Rawlinson, referring to the 2011 U.S. Supreme Court decision Walmart v. Dukes. "I don't feel there is a policy that's been pointed out."
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