Wal Mart Settles 63 Wage & Hour Suits
Posted on December 26th, 2008 by Tim Eavenson | No Comments »Filed under: ., HR Issues |
This week, Wal Mart agreed to settle 63 suits alleging the company that created the part-time, retail work force refused to pay overtime and forced employees to work through their breaks. A spokesman said the total payout will be somewhere between $350 Million and $640 Million, depending on class action specifics.
This settlement is the latest (and largest) of Wal Mart’s payouts on recent legal actions. As we have reported multiple times this year, Wal Mart seems to be on a settlement streak on claims of wage violations and sex and disability discrimination. From the Washington Post:
The settlement ends actions pending in most state courts and in federal court in Nevada, and comes two weeks after a similar agreement was reached in Minnesota. The company will record an after-tax fourth-quarter expense of $250 million, or about 6 cents a share.
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The company two weeks ago agreed to pay $54.3 million to settle a class-action suit by Minnesota hourly workers claiming violations of wage-and-hour laws. The Minnesota judge found in July that the company broke wage-and-hour laws more than 2 million times and ordered Wal-Mart to give employees $6.5 million in back pay. In settling, Wal-Mart avoided a trial scheduled for next month in which a jury would have been asked to order the company to pay as much as $2 billion.
Considering that it hasn’t faired well in court recently, and the company’s ongoing efforts to upgrade its image, the spate of settlements is relatively expected. Still, it’s a big turnaround for a company that would fight lawsuits tooth and nail just a few years ago, it seems.
It’s also important to remember that: 1. Despite the settlement, there are still wage and hour suits pending in at least California, Massechusetts and Pennsylvania; and 2. Wal Mart reported $378 Billion in total revenue for 2008, so $600 Million is not as terrible as it sounds to the rest of us.
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