LOUISVILLE,Ky. - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will pay nearly $12 million and change its hiring practices to settle a sex discrimination lawsuit over hiring at an southeastern Kentucky warehouse.

The retail giant and the U.S.Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reached the deal on Monday, when a nine-year-old lawsuit over Wal-Mart's bypassing of women for jobs at its London warehouse was set to go to trial.

The EEOC sued Wal-Mart in 2001, alleging it illegally bypassed women for jobs in the warehouse, hiring 18-to-25-year-old men instead. Wal-Mart denied the charges.

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