The U.S. Supreme Court, in a ruling that will mean new limits on class-action suits, ruled that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. can’t be sued for discrimination on behalf of potentially 1 million female workers, Bloomberg reported.

The justices said the lawyers pressing the case failed to point to a common corporate policy that led to gender discrimination against workers at thousands of Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores across the country.

The workers “provide no convincing proof of a companywide discriminatory pay and promotion policy,” Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for five members of the court. The justices were unanimous on some aspects of the opinion and divided on others.

The ruling may help companies facing similar suits. Units of Deere & Co. in Moline, Cigna Corp., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bayer AG, Toshiba Corp. and Costco Wholesale Corp. face gender discrimination complaints that seek class-action status. More than 20 companies supported Wal-Mart at the Supreme Court, including Intel Corp., Bank of America Corp., Microsoft Corp. and General Electric Co.

Four justices said they would have returned the case to a lower court and let the workers try to press ahead with a class action under a different legal theory.

The women’s lawyers said they would press ahead with claims on behalf of aggrieved workers, either as individuals or as part of smaller groups.