Wal-Mart Watch Statement On $33 Million Labor Department Fine

For Immediate Release
Thursday, January 25, 2007

Washington, D.C. - Wal-Mart Watch executive director David Nassar issues the following statement in response to the U.S. Department of Labor’s announcement that Wal-Mart is required to pay over $33 million in unpaid wages to current and former employees:

“Today’s announcement is just the latest in a disturbing pattern of Wal-Mart’s disregard for the law. It’s yet another example of how Wal-Mart fails to live up to its legal and moral responsibilities as the world’s largest private employer.

Wal-Mart has a fiduciary obligation to its investors and shareholders to comply with labor regulations. Its corporate policies consistently put the company at financial risk and call into question the judgment of its leadership.

Wal-Mart only came forward because they were facing greater legal exposure on this matter on several other related lawsuits. The fact that the current administrator of the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, Paul DeCamp, has done extensive legal work for Wal-Mart is a stark reminder of why so many organizations opposed DeCamp’s nomination last year.”

Additional Background On Labor Abuses At Wal-Mart:

• Wal-Mart’s Own Audit Found Work Breaks Not Provided. In 2000, an internal Wal-Mart audit found that of 128 stores, 127 of them were “not in compliance” with company policies providing for work breaks. [Indiana Lawyer, 5/7/03]
• Wal-Mart Repeatedly Found Guilty for Forcing Its Employees to Work Off-the-Clock. In 2000, Wal-Mart paid $50 million to settle a lawsuit that involved 69,000 workers in Colorado who had allegedly been forced to work off-the-clock. In 2002, a federal grand jury in Oregon found Wal-Mart employees were forced to work off-the-clock and awarded back pay to 83 workers. In December 2005, Wal-Mart was ordered to pay $172 million to 116,000 current and former California workers for violating a 2001 state law that requires employers to give 30-minute, unpaid lunch breaks to employees who work at least six hours. Nationally, Wal-Mart has 53 class action lawsuits alleging wage and hour violations. [New York Times, 11/19/04; Associated Press, 2/17/04; Associated Press, 9/19/05; Associated Press, 12/22/05]
• Wal-Mart Fined For Violating Child Labor Laws by Allowing Teens To Work In Unsafe Conditions. In January 2005, Wal-Mart reached a settlement with the United States Department of Labor for violations pertaining to the Fair Labor Standards Act, after being investigated in 27 stores in three states for violations of child labor regulations. Wal-Mart paid a $135,540 fine after the investigation found that the company allowed 85 workers, aged 16 and 17, to participate in activities “including loading and occasionally operating or unloading scrap paper balers, and operating fork lifts.” Wal-Mart also signed an agreement with the Department’s Wage and Hours Division regarding future child labor conditions. [U.S. Department of Labor Press Release, 2/14/05]
• Wal-Mart Repeatedly Fined for Violating Family Leave Laws. Wal-Mart has received numerous fines for violating the Family and Medical Leave Act in locations all over the country - firing workers while on federally protected medical leave. In addition, in 2005, Wal-Mart was fined $188,000 by the California Fair Employment and Housing Commission for violating California state law when it refused to reinstate a woman after she completed her maternity leave. [U.S. Department of Labor, via Freedom of Information Act; California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, case no. E 200203 M-0774-00-pe, C 03-04-026; Sacramento Bee, 6/14/05]
• Wal-Mart Hired Illegal Immigrants to Work Off-the Clock. Wal-Mart paid $11 million to settle a federal investigation called “Operation Rollback,” which found hundreds of illegal immigrants working off-the-clock cleaning stores. In 2003, federal agents raided 61 Wal-Mart stores and arrested 250 illegal immigrants. [Washington Post, 3/19/05; Los Angeles Times, 10/24/03]

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