The latest in a series of job-related discrimination cases against Chicago area companies has the potential to loom large in employment law.
Judge Elaine E. Bucklo of U.S. District Court set the stage for what could be one of the largest class-action suits ever brought under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. She ruled that Dominick’s Supermarkets must stand trial in a suit brought by women employees who said the chain discriminates against them in the workplace.
Any woman who worked for the Northlake-based grocery chain after Sept. 23, 1993, could be eligible to join the case, which might mean as many as 15,000, according to plaintiffs’ lawyers.
Dominick’s said it has 300 women in management out of 1,200 and a total employment of 18,000. The highest-ranking women are the group vice president of human resources and vice president of finance. The suit alleges that in the jobs of store manager, co-manager, assistant manager and meat and produce managers, at least 94 percent are men.
