WAL MART LOSES BREAKS SUIT…
The common pleas court in Philadelphia has ruled in Braun v. Wal Mart and Hummel v. Walmart that the comapny forced employees to forgo their legally entitled 15-minute breaks on a regular basis. The fines and damages could reach $169 million for the retailer.
According to Bloomberg:
The company now faces as much as $97.2 million in compensatory damages and $65 million in liquidated damages, said Michael Donovan, an attorney for Hummel and Braun. Wal-Mart reported net income of $11.2 billion for the fiscal year through January, on sales of $312.4 billion.
It’s interesting that the $11.2 billion was reported as income and not, what it really is, profit. And the max charge against the Bentonvile Behemoth represents only about 5.5 days of profit. It gets to keep the other 360 days worth.
Lawyers for the ex-employees, Dolores Hummel and Michelle Braun, claimed that Wal-Mart made workers skip more than 33 million rest breaks from 1998 to 2001 to boost productivity and curb labor costs. More than 70 similar wage suits have been filed in the U.S. against the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company.
During the six-week trial, former Wal-Mart employees testified that they were pressured by store managers to pass on breaks and cut meals short. Two cashiers claimed they were locked in stores after their shifts ended and forced to restock merchandise before they could leave.
The employees’ lawyers blamed the missed breaks in part on Wal-Mart’s staffing system, which based a store’s staffing on its budgeted sales. The system led to personnel shortages at stores that made it impossible for workers to take breaks, the plaintiffs claimed.
This case covers only workers in Pennsylvania. A similar suits have been brought and won in both Oregon and California. So, three states down and 47 to go.
[...] A career with a wage cap? A career where the system is being gamed to force workers with seniority out? A career where the company expects them to work off-the-clock and without breaks? [...]
[...] WAL MART LOSES BREAKS SUIT… The common pleas court in Philadelphia has ruled in Braun v. Wal Mart and Hummel v. Walmart that the comapny forced employees to forgo their legally entitled 15-minute breaks on a regular basis. The fines and damages could reach $169 million for the retailer.. Keep reading… [...]