Large gender bias class action vs Sterling Jewelers revived: U.S. appeals court
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Monday restored a nationwide class action arbitration allowing at least 70,000 female Sterling Jewelers employees to pursue claims that the retailer paid them less and promoted them less often than men for a decade.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said a lower court judge erred in finding that an arbitrator lacked power to include women in the class who had not said they wanted to join it, rather than only the 254 who authorized it.
Circuit Judge Peter Hall said Sterling, a unit of Signet Jewelers Ltd (SIG.N), and the women were bound to arbitrator Kathleen Roberts’ view on who belonged in the class, under an agreement the women signed as a condition of employment.
“The absent class members, no less than the parties, ... bargained for the arbitrator’s construction of their agreement with respect to class arbitrability,” Hall wrote.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-signet-sterling-arbitration/large-gender-bias-class-action-vs-sterling-jewelers-revived-u-s-appeals-court-idUSKBN1XS28I
