Costco Settles Gender Bias Class Action
After more than 10 years of legal wrangling, lawyers told a federal judge Friday that Costco has settled the last remaining claims in a class action accusing the bulk retailer of gender bias…The long-running litigation began in 2004, with a class action filed by Shirley "Rae" Ellis that accused Costco of overlooking women for promotions to assistant and general manager positions since 2002…In 2012, [District Judge Edward] Chen approved injunctive and monetary relief classes of 700 women in the suit…In 2013, Costco announced that it would pay $8 million to settle the case, but Sasaki's claim that she was denied general-manager promotions because of her gender remained. Chen ruled this year that Sasaki could move forward with her claim that a supervisor was freezing her out in retaliation for the original lawsuit, and that she could "piggy-back" on Ellis' original disparate-treatment claim. On Friday, plaintiffs' attorneys said they could not comment on the settlement but said Sasaki's individual claims had been resolved. Costco attorneys also declined to comment…