On Thursday, the plaintiffs did just that, filing an amended lawsuit that narrows the class from all of the women who work or have worked at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores, estimated at 1.5 million, to those in the retailer’s California regions, estimated to be at least 45,000 current employees and 45,000 former employees.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs said the lawsuit was the first of many that will be filed against the world’s largest retailer alleging discrimination against women in pay and advancement.

In its June ruling in Dukes v. Wal-Mart, the Supreme Court did not determine whether the women were discriminated against it. Rather, in its 5-4 decision, it concluded that the plaintiffs had not met requirements that the class have a question of law or fact in common.

Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said the case involved “literally millions of employment decisions.” The plaintiffs, he added, were required to point to “some glue holding the alleged reasons for all those decisions together.”

The origins of the lawsuit date to 1999 when Stephanie Odle was fired after complaining that she was discriminated against because of her sex. She said he had discovered that a male employee with the same job and less experience was making $10,000 a year more than her.

Her boss explained that the man had a family to support.

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