A federal judge has granted class-action status to a lawsuit that claims
Wal-Mart's denial of health insurance coverage for birth control is
unfair to female employees.

U.S. District Judge Julie Carnes said Friday that all women working
for the nation's largest retailer after March 2001 could pursue claims
against the company if they were using prescription contraceptives.

Lisa
Smith Mauldin, a customer-service manager at a Wal-Mart store in Hiram,
filed the lawsuit in October asking the court to declare the company's
health plan illegal and to order Wal-Mart to reimburse her and other
employees for uninsured prescription contraceptives.

Her lawyer, George Stein, called the judge's decision to grant
class-action status "a major victory for the working women of
America."

"A lot of working women in this country are single and have
children and have to pinch their pennies to make ends meet," he
said. He said the company saves about million a month by denying birth
control coverage.

Wal-Mart attorney Mark Casciari noted that the judge had yet to
address the merits of the lawsuit and had declined to include male
Wal-Mart employees whose spouses use birth control.

"For that reason, I don't see this as a major victory for
anybody," Casciari told reporters.

The company is reviewing the ruling and hasn't decided whether to
appeal, Wal-Mart spokesman Bill Wertz said Saturday.