VERDICT ROLLING WEST…
Last week a judge in Pennylvania ordered Wal-Mart to pay an additional $62.3 million in damages over a forcing workers to put in time off-the-clock. That decision, according to the Kanasas City Star, is good news for workers in Kansas and Missouri.
The award last week by Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Mark Bernstein came atop a $78.5 million verdict last year in a case alleging that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. forced workers to work through rest and meal breaks.
Although Bernstein awarded the additional money under Pennsylvania’s wage payment and collection law, Kansas — where an analogous “off the clock” suit against Wal-Mart is pending in Wyandotte County — has a comparable law.
The law comes into play when a company, without cause, withholds pay for more than 30 days.
Missouri, where another off-the-clock case is pending in Jackson County, does not have such a law. But the Missouri Court of Appeals recently upheld that case as a class action, and the Missouri Supreme Court last week rejected Wal-Mart’s motion to transfer the case to the high court.
A $150 million here, a $150 million there, before long you’re talking real money; even for Wal-Mart.