The new proposed class includes women at California Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores who allege that company managers discriminated against them because of their gender, denying them pay increases and promotions offered to male employees.

The new motion was filed in the Northern District court in San Francisco, where over 12 years ago ERA and co-counsel first filed the original Dukes case — a nationwide suit on behalf over over 1 million Wal-Mart employees.

Previously, District Judge Charles Breyer denied Wal-Mart’s motion to dismiss the new iteration of the case.

To learn more about the new motion, click here for a press release. To support ERA’s continued efforts to combat pay discrimination, check out our Close the Gap campaign.

Judge Breyer is expected to hear the plaintiffs’ motion for class certification in July.

A sample response might go something like this:

“I fight for equal pay because I work just as hard as he does.”

“I’m a waitress, and if my wages were boosted 13% to match the average waiter’s wages, I’d be able to save more money for college.”

“Equal pay matters to me because my mom, sisters and wife deserve a fair share.”

“Your average working woman will lose around half a million dollars to the gender wage gap in her career. With that money, I could buy a home, care for a sick relative, or send my child to a university.”

“Your average woman working full-time who has graduated from college will lose over $1 million to the gender wage gap. With that money, I could retire comfortably after 40 years of hard work.”

“The average woman loses a million dollars over her career to the gender wage gap. With that money, I could buy a home, care for a sick relative, or give back to my community.”

If you need further inspiration for your video, check out this very important report by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

Some other startling equal pay facts, which could make for great video segments as well:

It took 44 years (since the passage of the Equal Pay Act) for the wage gap to close just 19 cents. That’s a rate of less than half a penny a year.

If equal pay for women were instituted immediately, across the board, it would result in an annual $319 billion gain nationally for women and their families.

One year after graduating college, women are paid on average only 80 percent of their male counterparts’ wages, and during the next 10 years, women’s wages fall even further behind, dropping to only 69 percent of men’s earnings ten years after college.

In furtherance of Equal Rights Advocates’ mission to end pay discrimination, we’ve launched a unique social media campaign to highlight pay inequities profession by profession.

According to data from the Department of Labor, women earn less than men for similar work in nearly all common professions. Some of the pay gaps are startling in their size — women chief executive officers, for example, earn 31 percent less than their male counterparts, on average.

You, ERA supporter, can help us Close the Gap and end pay discrimination by joining those who have already held a sign to protest the gap in one of a variety of professions. Snap a photo with your phone, webcam or camera of you holding the sign, and you’ll have helped us raise awareness about this inequity faced by your mothers, sisters, friends and daughters. Men are welcome to hold signs, too!

To see more photos, and to find out more, visit our Close the Gap Facebook photo album.

And while you’re at it, show your support for the national Paycheck Fairness Act, which will close loopholes in the Equal Pay Act (now in its 50th year) and bar retaliation against those who disclose their wages to coworkers. Write your local representative or senator and tell them “I Support the PFA!” A sample letter you can use can be downloaded here. You can find contact information for your local congresswoman or congressman here and here. You won’t be alone — check out this letter, co-signed by a wide range of organizations including ERA, in support of the PFA.

5/10 UPDATE: Today, President Barack Obama issued an executive order requiring the federal government examine possible instances of pay inequity within its own workforce. You can read the order here.

The Student Leadership Board was formed with two goals in mind. First, the student leaders would participate in a series of workshops to help them build their skills as individuals and empower their abilities as community leaders; and second, the student leaders would advise ERA’s Title IX and other gender equity work (including outreach and education materials).

The Student Leadership Board would not have been possible without the valuable contributions of several key partner organizations.  Over the last few months, staff attorney Jamie Dolkas has worked closely with key strategic partners to recruit a diverse group of young leaders to participate in the Student Leadership Board.  ERA is a member of the Alliance for Girls, a coalition of a diverse range of girl-serving organizations in the Bay Area, and is working closely with this coalition to strengthen our outreach.  Working with these organizations, ERA recruited approximately 25 student leaders who were nominated for the program. These young women are representatives organizations doing great work to empower young women, including those from low-income families and facing other obstacles.  These include Center for Young Women’s Development (CYWD), Sisters Rising, Turning Heads, and Sojourn to the Past.

On January 24, 2013, ERA held the first Student Leadership Board meeting.  Students were introduced to the program and participated in an interactive Title IX know-your-rights training workshop.  Students learned about their rights under Title IX and how to use this law to combat gender discrimination and bullying in schools, fight for fair access to athletic programs and other educational opportunities, and ensure equal educational opportunities for pregnant and parenting students.

The workshop was a huge success, and the student leaders were very engaged in lively discussions about the major Title IX-related issues that are impacting their schools.  At the end of the workshop, we went around the room and each student identified one issue that they view as the biggest problem when it comes to achieving gender equity in schools.  The Board came up with the following “Title IX Priority List” of the top issues they would like to address in their schools:

• Cyber bullying;
• Victim-blaming;
• Teachers/school officials/adults not taking harassment and bullying seriously;
• Sexual harassment;
• Verbal comments that continue to escalate/intensify over time;
• Educating parents and teachers;
• Rumors as a form of harassment and bullying;
• Gender-based comments (not necessarily sexual);
• How to empower students who are bullied;
• Girl-on-girl bullying;
• Sexual orientation-based bullying, discrimination, and harassment;
• Group bullying/ganging up; and
• Knowing your legal rights and having the law behind you.

On February 11, 2013 ERA held a second Student Leadership Board workshop – a writing boot camp to help build students’ sense of voice and improve their writing skills to empower them to speak out about Title IX-related issues affecting their communities.  This workshop is part of an ongoing blog-writing project that will give students an opportunity to publish articles on ERA’s website.  Students turned in essays at the beginning of the workshop discussing their own experiences of sexual harassment, gender-based discrimination and bullying, and other forms of sex discrimination at school.  During the workshop training, students engaged in exercises to help them identify their unique style and tone as a writer.  They also participated in lively, heated debates about contested Title IX-related issues, designed to help them formulate opinions on these issues and put these opinions into words.  The students expressed a wide range of viewpoints.

We will be working with the students over the next few weeks to continue to cultivate their opinions and put them into writing.  Each student leader will write and edit a blog, and we’ll post many of the blogs on ERA’s website.  We’re excited to hear from our Student Leaders and look forward to showcasing their excellent contributions.  Stay tuned for updates on the Student Leadership Board blog project!

The suit for sexual harassment, retaliation, and failure to prevent harassment and discrimination arose from the sexual harassment and assault of the plaintiff by her direct supervisor while she worked as a janitor for ABM in the San Francisco Ferry Building in 2004. When she complained to the company, ABM responded by swearing Ms. Bojorquez to silence, transferring her to a shorter-term position, and then terminating her.

Equal Rights Advocates (ERA), a national non-profit law firm dedicated to representing the rights of women and girls at work and at school, and the San Francisco law firm of Talamantes Villegas Carrera, LLP represented Ms. Bojorquez in the suit. The case is Bojorquez v. ABM Industries, Incorporated et. al., Case #CGC-10-495994, San Francisco Superior Court.

“The sexual harassment and assault of immigrant women at work is a national epidemic,” said Monali Sheth, staff attorney at ERA. “This case puts a spotlight on the problem and on companies like ABM which shamefully foster these terrible working conditions. What Ms. Bojorquez went through is outrageous and ERA will not stop its advocacy until the workplace is safe for all women.”

“TVC is extremely proud to have represented such a courageous woman as Ms. Bojorquez, who was willing to step forward and fight for her rights in spite of the serious hardships and obstacles she faced,” stated Virginia Villegas of Talamantes Villegas Carrera, LLP. “This case should put employers who do not take seriously their responsibility to prevent and address sexual harassment on notice that low-wage workers will not be deterred from coming forward and demanding that their rights be respected.”

Like many female janitors employed by ABM, Plaintiff worked alone at night, cleaning isolated office areas to which she was assigned by her foreman. Instead of providing her with a safe, discrimination-free workplace, ABM fostered a sexually hostile work environment in which Ms. Bojorquez’s foreman and direct supervisor was emboldened to sexually harass her on a regular basis. As she testified at trial, during Ms. Bojorquez’s first two months of employment with ABM, she was subjected to a barrage of unwelcome comments, requests for sexual favors, and unwanted touching by the foreman, her direct supervisor. This sexual harassment escalated to the point that on the night of October 4, 2004, he forced Plaintiff to the ground and raped her on the floor of an office she was cleaning.

After Ms. Bojorquez complained to ABM about the harassment and assault, the company swore her and other potential witnesses to secrecy, requiring them to sign a “Confidentiality Agreement” that the EEOC later determined to be unlawful. Instead of removing or disciplining Ms. Bojorquez’s supervisor, ABM retained him. Instead of remedying the sexually hostile work environment to which Plaintiff was subjected, Defendants unlawfully retaliated against Plaintiff by removing her from the worksite and later terminating her employment.

Ms. Bojorquez filed timely charges of discrimination and retaliation in 2005 against ABM with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). DFEH issued a right-to-sue letter on May 31, 2005. On April 23, 2009, the EEOC issued a Determination and found that there was reasonable cause to believe that ABM discriminated against Plaintiff because of her sex, and retaliated against her for complaining about sexual harassment by not recalling her for work.

At least half a dozen sexual harassment lawsuits have been brought against ABM by female janitorial employees within the past several years, including two class action lawsuits brought by the EEOC. One of these class actions, U.S. E.E.O.C. v. ABM Industries, Inc., et al, No. 1:07-cv-01428 LJO JLT, was brought in California in 2007 against the same three defendants named here. As in the present case, the EEOC found evidence that the 21 female employees included in the class were subjected to severe, pervasive sexual harassment at worksites in the Central Valley, up to and including sexual assault. The case settled in 2010 for $5.8 million.

Media Contacts:
Monali Sheth, Staff Attorney, Equal Rights Advocates
msheth@equalrights.org 415-621-0672 x387 (office) 510-290-6544(cell)
Virginia Villegas, Partner, Talamantes Villegas Carrera, LLP
virginia@e-licenciados.com 415-989-8000 x 22 (office) 415-810-8195

About ERA
Equal Rights Advocates (ERA), founded in 1974, is a national civil rights organization dedicated to protecting and expanding economic and educational access and opportunities for women and girls. Through its campaign approach—incorporating public education, legislative advocacy, and litigation—ERA seeks to assist women and girls throughout a life-long continuum: ensuring equality in their educational experience, combating sex discrimination in the workforce, and advocating for workplaces hospitable to working families. To learn more about ERA’s work, visit www.equalrights.org.
About TALAMANTES VILLEGAS CARRERA, LLP
Talamantes Villegas Carrera, LLP is a San Francisco based, plaintiff-side law firm dedicated to representing the rights of immigrant and low-wage workers. Since 1999, we have zealously represented workers and have won significant victories for some of the most vulnerable and exploited workers, including janitorial, farm, domestic, restaurant, and factory workers. TVC regularly collaborates with non-profit civil rights legal organizations throughout the State of California, such as Equal Rights Advocates, by providing resources, litigation support, legal clinic support, and man/woman power. Holding ourselves to the highest standards as lawyers, we work from the principles of honesty, fairness and candor. The attorneys of TVC have integrity and take seriously our obligation to represent our clients to the best of our abilities. To learn more about TVC’s work, visit www.e-licenciados.com.
Equal Rights Advocates
www.equalrights.org
Advice & Counseling Hotline: 1-800-839-4372

The WISE Fund was borne out of Brust v. Regents of the University of California, a class action suit brought by women club athletes against UC Davis that alleged that women were getting too few intercollegiate athletic opportunities. “We are very excited that this key term of our Title IX suit continues to benefit women athletes at Davis,” stated Noreen Farrell, Managing Attorney at Equal Rights Advocates. ERA served as co-counsel for the athletes, along with the Sturdevant Law Firm and Equity Legal.

The agreed-upon Brust settlement also sets out a 10-year plan for UC Davis to reach specific proportions of male and female athletes by the 2019-20 school year. The university will either add women’s intercollegiate teams or will take other measures to ensure equal accommodation of student interest in varsity sports. UC Davis has also agreed to contribute $110,000 to a fund for the development of club sports, which the plaintiffs will distribute consistent with the purposes of the lawsuit.

The suit, Brust v. Regents of the University of California, was filed as a companion class action case to a still pending Title IX suit filed by women wrestlers in 2003, who challenge discrimination they faced at Davis arising from their removal from the varsity wrestling program. The wrestler case, Mansourian v. Regents of the University of California, proceeds to trial starting Monday at a federal court in Sacramento. ERA, the Sturdevant Law Firm, Equity Legal, and the law firm of Duckworth, Peters, Lebowitz Olivier LLP also represent plaintiffs in the Mansourian case.

The WISE Fund, administered by the Women’s Foundation of California, awarded several grants for team-related expenses to club sport teams for the 2010-2011 school year to support development of women athletes. The recipients ranged from women’s rugby to women’s field hockey club teams.

The fund was lauded by UC Davis club lacrosse team members Miriam Kolni and Alexandra Pene. “The WISE Fund provided us with the funds to travel to Georgia and to play against higher ranking teams that we would otherwise have been unable to play,” said Alexandra Pene, a junior and lacrosse club team member. “Playing higher ranking teams, increased our ranking, which allowed us to become a leading contender at the top in the nation.”

“Most of the time you see men lacrosse teams playing on ESPN, so that is what the public sees,” said Pene. “But I think more and more girls are playing sports and it’s just as important to have those opportunities available to them as it would be for boys.”

Having the support also freed up students’ time to focus on academics “instead of stressing out over funding for your team’s next competition,” as both Pene and Kolni said.

Kelsey Brust, lead plaintiff in the Brust case that led to the establishment of the WISE Fund, stated, “While the WISE Funds will one day be spent, I am proud that our Title IX suit made a difference at Davis and that other women will continue to benefit from it for years to come.”

As noted by ERA’s Noreen Farrell, “Although we have made great progress, our work continues to ensure an equal education for the young men and women who will be our leaders tomorrow.”