Judge Orders Walmart To Pay $6.5 Million
Last updated Tuesday, July 1, 2008 5:55 PM CDT in Business
By Kimberly Morrison
The Morning News
SPRINGDALE - A Minnesota judge has found Walmart Stores Inc. violated state labor laws two million times and awarded the plaintiffs $6.5 million in back pay.
Dakota County Judge Robert King Jr.'s order in Nancy Braun v. Walmart, a class-action suit representing 56,000 Walmart and Sam's Club employees, found that the retailer forced employees to work off the clock and work through meal and rest breaks.
"Walmart's failure to compensate plaintiffs was willful," King wrote in his 151-page decision. "Walmart was on notice from numerous sources of the wage and hour violations at issue and failed to correct the problem."
A jury will decide how much the company will pay in violations and consider punitive damages in a second trial scheduled to begin Oct. 20.
"In phase two, the jury can find a civil penalty of up to $1,000 per violation, and it is our allegation that there are millions of violations," said Justin Perl, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, of Minneapolis-based firm Maslon, Edelman, Borman & Brand LLP.
King's decision that the Bentonville-based retailer violated the state's labor and wage laws two million times means that a jury could determine Walmart owes as much as $2 billion.
Walmart spokeswoman Daphne Moore said the company respectfully disagrees with parts of the decision and is considering an appeal.
Plaintiffs' attorneys argued that managers, who operated understaffed stores and were under pressure to meet store performance goals, denied breaks to keep down labor costs. They argued that Walmart managers falsified timecards, forced employees to work before clocking in and after clocking out, and did not pay staff for training.
King said the evidence didn't support the allegations that Walmart managers falsified records.
The judge did find that Walmart's own audits showed employees were missing meal and rest breaks, and that Walmart managers were unresponsive.
"They put their heads in the sand," King wrote.
The Braun v. Walmart suit was first filed in 2000 and was awarded class-action status in 2003. The trial concluded April 1.
Walmart is appealing verdicts in similar cases in California and Pennsylvania and faces more than 70 wage and hour violations class-action lawsuits.
The retailer has consistently denied wrongdoing and continues to disagree with the case's class-action status.
"Our policy is to pay every associate for every hour worked and to provide meal and rest periods, and any manager who violated policy is subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination," Moore said.
"It is our position that this case does not warrant class-action status, and that the experiences of a handful of individuals is not representative of tens of thousands of others."
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rayejawish wrote on Jul 1, 2008 4:15 PM: