Wal-Mart Corp. Found Guilty of Wage Theft in Minnesota

[marmar]

via ReclaimDemocracy!:



Court Finds Wal-Mart Repeatedly and Willfully Violated Minnesota Labor Laws
Thousands of employees denied breaks, pay for hours worked


Print-friendly Page By Julie Forster
First published by the St. Paul Pioneer Press, July 1, 2008




Is $6.5 million just the beginning?

While a Minnesota judge ordered Wal-Mart Stores to pay that amount for shorting its workers on rest breaks and meal breaks and for allowing them to work off the clock, the next phase of a class-action wage trial has the potential to be much more punishing for the world's largest retailer.

In a 151-page decision made public Tuesday, Dakota County District Judge Robert King Jr. found that the Arkansas-based retailer repeatedly and willfully violated Minnesota labor laws or its contract with its employees by not giving them rest breaks or meal breaks and by shaving time from paid rest breaks.

King also found that Wal-Mart failed to maintain accurate time records and didn't pay employees for training.

Tuesday's award accounts for back wages and the value of the breaks workers were shorted. But King also found more than 2 million violations of state labor law, which could result in penalities of $2 billion.

If a jury awards penalties for those statutory violations, the money would go to the state.

For workers covered by the suit — an estimated 56,000 who worked at 46 Wal-Mart and 13 Sam's Club stores in Minnesota — any significant award depends on persuading a jury in the next phase of the trial to assess sizable punitive damages against Wal-Mart. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://reclaimdemocracy.org/walmart/2008/minnesota_labor_violations.php

[indepat]

1. Walmart's way of making America a better place by reason of its corporate existence?

:D

[Sherman A1]

2. One for the Good Guys!

Thanks for the link!

[Disturbed]

3. The state would receive the money first?

That doesn't seem to be justice. The employees should get their compensation for being defrauded before the state.

[gratuitous]

5. The wording in the article is kind of obscure

It seems to be saying that Wal Mart would be liable for a penalty for each of its violations of the labor laws, and that indeed is money owed to the state for enforcing the law. Like when the Occupational Safety and Health folks come by and cite a building development for safety code violations, the contractor pays its fine to the state, not to the workers who have been electrocuted or fallen off scaffolding or whatever.

Depending on the wage claim statute that Wal Mart is being sued under, there may or may not be a claim for penalty wages available. Penalty wages under federal law and Oregon state law are assessed on a delinquent employer and are payable to the suing worker (and his attorney - yay!), but I don't know about Minnesota state law. It's possible that a penalty wage isn't available to employees who file under Minnesota state law, which poses the question of why the workers' attorneys didn't file their claim under federal law.

As to punitive damages, it appears that Wal Mart has several friends on the U.S. Supreme Court, and they may want to concede a punitive award in Minnesota state court in order to get before the U.S. Supremes as soon as possible (while a lunatic majority controls), so it can be overturned on some nonsense legal argument such as "due process" or "was it really so bad to short our workers their pay - we need the money and they don't, see?"

[China_cat]

4. ALLOWED them to work off the clock?

Somebody needs to get a reality check. I don't know of anyone who would ask to work off the clock, do you? FORCED to work off the clock is how it should read.

[SoCalDem]

8. How they do it..

They tell their employees that they HAVE to accomplish a task, and then do not give them enough time to complete it..or during the time they are supposed to be stocking/unpacking/whatever, they are also being clalled on the intercom every 5 minutes for price checks, clean ups, you name it, so of course they cannot complete their "task".. The suprevisor then tells them they will make a note of the fact that they seem to be having problems getting their work done..wink-wink-wink... It's not hard to imagine what comes next, now is it?

[Pastiche423]

6. I hope the jury fines those mf's to the hilt!

[Deja Q]

7. Sam wouldn't be proud.

:shrug:

For other reasons, he still wouldn't be, but those are other arguments.

[MasonJar]

9. Serves them right for continuing to take advantage of their employees.

I hope that all the states take a similar attitude; that could spell doom for the Walmart Co. Good riddance I say!

[Disturbed]

11. Walmart makes $Billions yet they still short change their

employees. Shameful!!!

[lonestarnot]

10. Is this where they locked people in overnight?