Wal-Mart Watch: A judge certifies the class-action status of the suit against Wal-Mart for pervasive gender discrimination in promotions and pay, making it the largest class action lawsuit in American history: The lawsuit, brought three years ago in San Francisco, asserts that Wal-Mart, the nation's largest company, systematically discriminated against women in pay and promotions. The lawsuit noted that while 65 percent of Wal-Mart's employees were women when the lawsuit was filed, only 33 percent of Wal-Mart's managers were women. Judge Martin Jenkins, of the United States District Court in Northern California, wrote that the case was "historic in nature, dwarfing other employment discrimination cases that came before it."