Wal-Mart Wins Test Trial in Next Wave of Gender-Bias Claims

By Margaret Cronin Fisk and Della Hasselle, Bloomberg News

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. convinced a Louisiana jury it didn’t discriminate against a woman who said she was denied promotions in a first test trial of hundreds of claims after the retailer won a U.S. Supreme Court decision barring a nationwide class action.

The New Orleans jury on Wednesday rejected a claim by Ravion Fairley, who alleged that she was paid less than men in identical positions and wasn’t offered a higher-paying job as a meat cutter while working for the company because Wal-Mart “adhered to strict gender-segregated roles.’’

Wal-Mart countered that ...