Wal-Mart Angst
Don’t cry for me Sam Walton. Your dream of a discount store for the average Mr. and Mrs. Joe has turned into a nightmarish monster that’s eating into the soul of the planet. Here’s the latest one for wonderful Wal-Mart, the company that stands out as one of the most vile on the planet (well, it is behind Monsanto in that sense.)
Once again, Wal-Mart has proven to be a good neighbor and employer. They just lost another lawsuit leveied by their dear and loyal employees.
From Bloomberg:
Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. owes workers in Pennsylvania $78.5 million for missed rest breaks and hours worked beyond regular shifts, a jury ruled, handing the world’s largest retailer its second such trial loss in less than a year.
Jurors in Philadelphia awarded the damages today at the end of a six-week trial over workers’ pay starting in 1998. After hearing arguments this morning on how much money to award, the jurors needed just two hours this afternoon to accept a figure proposed by the workers’ lawyers in the class-action suit.
The verdict is Wal-Mart’s second multimillion-dollar loss in 10 months in employee group lawsuits over wages. In December, a jury awarded $172.3 million to California workers for missed meal breaks. More than 70 such actions have been filed against the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company.