Wal-Mart Faces Massive Wage & Hour Suit in Minnesota

You gotta hand it to Wal-Mart: when that company does something, it does it all the way. While most companies couldn’t break the law two million times if they tried, Wal-Mart has managed to do just that - and that’s in Minnesota alone. A recent case found that Wal-Mart has violated Minnesota state labor law two million times by forcing employees to work without breaks and without full pay.

The judge in the case called Wal-Mart’s labor policies “dehumanizing and reprehensible,” reinforcing what labor activists have long maintained about working conditions in the company’s stores. As details of the case come to light, Wal-Mart’s mechanized stinginess leaves little room for sympathy and instead reveal just how coldly calculating the retailer can be. Reporters, labor activists and bloggers weigh in.

Always Low Motives. Always. [Condé Nast Portfolio]

A million violations here, a million violations there: Pretty soon they being to add up. What they’ve added up to for Wal-Mart is at least $6.5 million in damages—and potentially much, much more…

Even worse for Wal-Mart: This is only one of 70 similar cases pending in courts across the country.

King, for one, sounded unsympathetic. “Wal-Mart’s failure to compensate plaintiffs was willful,” he wrote in a 150-page decision. “Wal-Mart was on notice from numerous sources of the wage and hour violations at issue and failed to correct the problem.”

More after the jump.

Wal-Mart Faces Fine in Minnesota Suit Involving Work Breaks [New York Times]

Under the ruling, Wal-Mart faces the greatest liability for violating Minnesota law by deducting several minutes from workers’ pay when they took rest breaks for 16, 17 or 18 minutes, when Wal-Mart said they were entitled to 15-minute breaks. Under Minnesota law, employers are barred from deducting minutes from a worker’s pay so long as the break lasts less than 20 minutes.

Judge Orders Wal-Mart To Pay $6.5 Million For Violating Labor Laws [Consumerist]

Violations were incurred when the company reduced break time for employees and “willfully” allowed them to work off the clock. Other infractions include the failure to keep time records and denying employees time for meal breaks...May justice be fair and swift.

Wal-Mart violated Minnesota labor laws, could pay billions in damages [BloggingStocks]

Regardless of where you stand on Wal-Mart (I am ambivalent), this decision is good news. It shows that the legal system is working and will hold the company responsible when it breaks the law. Two billion dollars in damages is a lot of of money, even for Wal-Mart, and it may inspire the company to be more vigilant in making sure that its labor practices comply with the law.

Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, July 02, 2008