As a group of female Wal-Mart employees in California who sued their employer for sex discrimination saw their case blocked by the Supreme Court on Monday, employees at Three Village big-box stores say they haven't seen that bias locally.
Though the high court's 5-4 decision has essentially made it harder for employees of large retail corporations to win cases of bias against their employers, according to an Associated Press report, local employees at big-boxes such as , and others, told Patch they are generally happy.
"I feel like everybody's treated fairly. We're held accountable as a team rather than individually," said Mike, 21, a Best Buy associate who preferred not to give his last name. "I like working here. I feel comfortable here."
While he has observed more male employees in the store than female employees, he has also seen more men applying for jobs at Best Buy than women.
The case may be the reverse at , where one female employee described the workplace as a "women's world."
Justin, a 20-year-old employee at , said he hasn't witnessed any instances of discrimination in the workplace there.
"Some jobs here that you think only guys can do, they have women doing them too," he said, giving the example of a female employee who works for the store's tire installation service.
At Target, some have seen more female managers than male managers. The Wal-Mart lawsuit alleged, among other things, that fewer women than men were promoted to management positions.
"It doesn't seem discriminatory here," said Nitaya, who has worked at Target for about three years.
She is a recent SUNY Old Westbury graduate who said she is working at Target to save money to attend law school. She makes "a little more than minimum wage," but she lives with her family in Selden, so she has few expenses.
"A job is a job nowadays, but it's good here," she said.
Several Wal-Mart employees declined to comment on the case, although some also said they were unaware of the lawsuit's existence.
