Wal-Mart Workers Illegally Denied Lunch Breaks Use
Civil Justice System to Hold Retailer Accountable
Case Illustrates Importance of Class Action Lawsuits
Wal-Mart
stole wages from 116,000 California employees
For 116,000 Wal-Mart employees in California who were illegally
denied lunch breaks, the civil justice system proved their last
and only resort to hold the retail giant accountable and recover
wages they should have been paid.
California state law requires employers to give 30-minute lunch
breaks to employees who work longer than six-hour shifts. Wal-Mart
described its denial of legally required lunch breaks as a "compliance
issue." But an attorney for the workers said, "What was compelling
for the jury was that we put a lot of evidence before them of memos
by Wal-Mart from seven years ago that concluded they had been breaking
the law. Instead of taking steps to solve the problem, Wal-Mart
concealed it." The jury found that between 2001 and 2005 Wal-Mart
had broken the law and ordered the retailer to compensate its workers
fairly.
Had it not been for a class action suit, the workers never would
have been paid what they were due; since each individual employee's
lost wages may have been only a few hundred or a few thousand dollars
it would not have been worth the cost and effort to bring an individual
suit. By using a class action suit, the employees were able to band
together to hold Wal-Mart accountable for systematically defrauding
all of its California employees.
By combining hundreds or thousands of individual cases into one,
class actions make the civil justice system more efficient, save
taxpayer dollars and court time, and allow individuals who've been
wronged by giant corporations to hold them accountable.
In the Stores
California isn't the only state where Wal-Mart has been held accountable
for breaking wage and hour laws. The company settled claims that
it defrauded its Colorado employees, and is facing claims in Pennsylvania
and elsewhere challenging the company's illegal practice of forcing
employees to work "off-the-clock" without pay and missing their
promised breaks. In 2002, statisticians estimated Wal-Mart shortchanged
its Texas workers $150 million over four years by regularly not
paying them for working through their 15-minute breaks. In addition
to the similar wage and hour class-action suits in other states,
Wal-Mart faces a lawsuit alleging systematic discrimination against
women, and has also run into trouble for violating child labor laws.
By the Numbers
$10 Billion: Wal-Mart's annual profits.
60,767: Number of breaks Wal-Mart employees were
forced to miss in one week, according to an analysis of Wal-Mart
time records.
BISNAR & CHASE, CALIFORNIA WAGE AND HOUR LAWYERS ARE DEDICATED TO HELPING VICTIMS OF OVERTIME VIOLATIONS.
CALL US TODAY FOR A FREE CONSULTATION WITH AN EXPERIENCED AND SUCCESSFUL ATTORNEY OR CLICK HERE TO FILL OUT OUR ONLINE CASE EVALUATION FORM
"WHEN RESULTS COUNT"
BISNAR & CHASE
1-866-868-4452
|
