Posted on 09/19/2005 6:15:38 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
OAKLAND, Calif. - Lawyers representing about 116,000 former and current Wal-Mart Stores Inc. employees in California told a jury Monday that the world's largest retailer systematically and illegally denied workers lunch breaks.
The suit in Alameda County Superior Court is among about 40 cases nationwide alleging workplace violations against Wal-Mart, and the first to go to trial. Wal-Mart, which earned $10 billion last year, settled a lawsuit in Colorado for $50 million that contains similar allegations to California's class action. The company also is accused of paying men more than women in a federal lawsuit pending in San Francisco federal court.
The workers in the class-action suit are owed more than $66 million plus interest, attorney Fred Furth told the 12 jurors and four alternates.
"I will prove the reason they did this was for the God Almighty dollar," Furth said in his opening statement.
Nine jurors must side with the plaintiffs to prevail. Millions of dollars also are sought to punish the company for the alleged wrongdoing.
The case concerns a 2001 state law, which is among the nation's most worker friendly. Employees who work at least six hours must have a 30-minute, unpaid lunch break. If they do not get that, the law requires they are paid for an additional hour of pay.
The lawsuit covers former and current employees in California from 2001 to 2005.
Wal-Mart declined to give an opening statement, reserving its right to give one later. Its lawyers also declined comment.
In court documents, the Bentonville, Ark., company claims that workers did not demand penalty wages on a timely basis. Wal-Mart adds that it did pay some employees their penalty pay and, in 2003, most workers agreed to waive their meal periods as the law allows.
The Bentonville, Ark.-based company also says some violations were minor, such as demanding employees punch back in from lunch and work during their meal breaks. In essence, workers were provided a shorter meal period than the law allows.
The case does not claim that employees were forced to work off the clock during their lunch breaks.
The lawsuit was brought in 2001 by a handful of San Francisco-area former Wal-Mart employees, and took four years of legal wrangling to get to trial. During that time, Wal-Mart produced internal audits that plaintiffs' lawyers maintain showed the company knew it was not granting meal breaks on thousands of occasions.
That 2000 audit was given to top-level executives, according to evidence submitted to jurors Monday.
One company document called results of the audit "a chronic problem." A one-week review of company policies showed thousands of instances in which workers were not given a meal break in accordance with the law, according to the documents provided to the jury.
"This is Wal-Mart auditing Wal-Mart," Furth said.
On Tuesday, as many as three plaintiffs are expected to testify in a trial that will last weeks.
Several lawyers representing out-of-state Wal-Mart workers in class action lawsuits were in the gallery. Karin Kramer, a lawyer suing Wal-Mart on behalf of 50,000 Washington state company workers, said suing Wal-Mart is a gargantuan task.
"They can afford and do fight you on every single issue," she said.
Shares of Wal-Mart rose 14 cents to close at $44.01 Monday on the New York Stock Exchange.
I'm curious about these "rude and unfriendly" WMT employees everyone here is talking about. At local stores here, if any employee is intentionally rude or unfriendly, they get reprimanded immediately or fired. I have seen cashiers cry because customers are rude to them and they can't respond in any way. Crabby, argumentative customers take their petty frustrations out on defenseless cashiers and other store employees all the time. If certain stores have rude employees, that is simply a reflection of that particular community, not of WMT as a whole.
The liberals and unions are attacking WMT any way they can. Why? Because WMT is against them, and they know it. Rooting against WMT is like rooting for Dan Rather.
I agree with you.. and it is always un-paid time (at least in non gubermint jobs). The employer is giving you nothing.
I feel sorry for you nurses, but what is with doctors offices closing for 2 hour "lunch hours"?
Are you high? Kmarts great and Walmart is my new best freind I was there for the 1st time yesterday I bought a pair of boots for $24 the same boots I've bought for the last 5 years, in the past I paid $80 for them in a sporting goods store, I bought another 11 items(same brand name) which in the past I would have paid $200 for and my total bill was $84. I went to one store got everything I needed saved $116 and saved gas not driving from store to store to get the lowest price. Another Plus was that 3 cute cashiers were fighting over who would ring me up.
Our Wally's forces young children to work 16-18 hours a day without any breaks and no food! I have even heard they force them to work heavy equipment and if they fall under the treads they just throw the bodies in the dumpster. Jeez, does anyone buy this BS!
At my walmart, there aren't any cashiers fighting over customers. Got 25 or 30 check-out lanes and only 6 are usually open.
There are still lots of folks that do heavy physical labor (factories,lumber mills,construction work, etc.) and they need their lunch (and I dont mean a latte's and yogurt!)
Who is forcing them to work there?
My Wal-Mart has plenty of nice friendly people. What Wal-Mart do you shop at? The one in Pyongyang?
licsence = licence = license
I have a friend who works part-time at a Wal-Mart and they HAVE to take their breaks and punch in & out for their lunches. It's ingrained in the training employees should know when they punch out or what time they take their 15-minute break.
IMO, these former employees got busted for skirting company policy and now they're crying to the trial lawyers looking for a handout. But they'll never get a dime because Wal-Mart has at least a dozen lawsuits pending before them right now and their lawyers will fight to the death for them rather than getting screwed by a corrupt legal system.
Never had a problem with mooses in our local Wally World, but the Target did have a deer running through the aisles once...seemed as if he just walked in right through the automatic front doors, unnoticed! (No kidding.)
If Target had a door greeter like Wal-Mart, that never would have happend...of if Target had 12 guage shot-guns like Wal-mart, well you know...
I'm sorry to hear that on my first visit I had 3 cutties fighting over who would take my money,was great for my ego I'm not getting any younger.
oops ... thank you kindly
Having worked retail (though not Wal-Mart), I can vouch for KellyAdmirer's take on "customers..." I've had it happen to me, and I've seen it happen to others countless times.
Fortunately, about 80 to 90% of the customers I've dealt with were pretty decent people....it's that 10 to 20% that gets to you.
I had one woman actually get in my face once about a transaction her son made, while she was no where near, not even in the store. She accused us of cheeting him...though we went overboard trying to help the young lad spend his money wisely...which he decided not to do.
So instead of taking Jr. to task, she yells at us for taking advantage of her young, precious innocent boy...
Unfortunately for her, she made me the target of her little tantrum....and for the first time in MY LIFE, I gave a "customer" a dressing down the like of which you only see in Marine boot camp...
The only time I ever lost it, but this woman was a real piece of work...
"I see liberal nonsense written throughout. You cannot even write complete coherent sentences. And you call yourself a teacher?"
How is this, I will buy you and teach my students to do the same... how is that for liberal.
... ????????
Good evening Mrs! How are you and yours tonight?
Yep, it is true, those machines lock right up and stop when the current customer is finished paying.
Management will come over with a til and finish off the line of customers or work the line until a new cashier arrives to take over.
these people are rotten plain and simple.
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