patent In July 2018, Walmart was granted a patent titled "Listening to the Frontend" for audio surveillance technology that could allow it to record employees as well as its shoppers. The company says the technology could help it boost worker productivity by generating performance metrics for each employee based on cashier area sounds, such as checkout scanner beeps, and even conversations. It wouldn't say whether it plans to actually implement the multi-sensor system. Gender and sexual orientation In 2007, a gender discrimination lawsuit, Dukes v. Walmart Stores, Inc., was filed against Walmart, alleging that female employees were discriminated against in matters regarding pay and promotions. A class action suit was sought, which would have been the nation's largest in history, covering 1.5 million past and current employees. On June 20, 2011, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Walmart's favor, stating that the plaintiffs did not have enough in common to constitute a class. The court ruled unanimously that because of the variability of the plaintiffs' circumstances, the class action could not proceed as presented, and furthermore, in a 54 decision that it could not proceed as any kind of class action suit. Several plaintiffs, including the lead plaintiff, Betty Dukes, expressed their intent to file individual discrimination lawsuits separately. According to a consultant hired by plaintiffs in a sex discrimination lawsuit, in 2001, Walmart's EEOC filings showed that female employees made up 65 percent of Walmart's hourly paid workforce, but only 33percent of its management. Just 35 percent of its store managers were women, compared to 57 percent at similar retailers. Walmart says comparisons with other retailers are unfair, because it classifies employees differently; if department managers were included in the totals, women would make up 60 percent of the managerial ranks. Others have criticized the lawsuit as without basis in the law and as an abuse of the class action mechanism. In 2007, Walmart was named by the National Association for Female Executives as one of the top 35 companies for Executive Women. Walmart's rating on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, a measure of how companies treat LGBT employees and customers, has increased greatly during the past decade. The company was praised for expanding its anti-discrimination policy protecting gay and lesbian employees, as well as for a new definition of "family" that included same-sex partners. However, they have been criticized by the HRC in other areas,