It hasn’t been a great 2010 for Wal-Mart.
Last month, a federal appeals court ruled that a class-action employment discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart could proceed. That lawsuit is expected to be the largest such suit in American history, and is expected to include more than 1 million current and former Wal-Mart workers who allege that they suffered gender-based discrimination at the retailer over the past decade. This month, the company agreed to pay up to $86 million in settlement of a lawsuit, which claims that the company failed to pay workers unpaid wages.
The class-action lawsuit includes approximately 232,000 former Wal-Mart workers. It stems from an original complaint filed in 2006 that alleged that the retailer had failed to pay vacation pay and other wages. The $86 million dollars includes $12 million in unpaid vacation pay and $74 million dollars in unpaid wages. This isn’t exactly unfamiliar territory for Wal-Mart. The company has a long record of litigation arising from its failure to pay wages.
In 2008, the retailer agreed to pay up to $640 million to settle dozens of class-action lawsuits, all alleging that the company failed to pay its workers fair wages.
In December of last year, the retailer agreed to pay $40 million to settle a class-action lawsuit, in settlement of an unpaid wages lawsuit in the state of Massachusetts.
All these wage-and-hour settlements may pale compared to what the company might have to pay out in the class-action gender discrimination lawsuit that is expected to proceed against it soon. If the case goes to trial, and the decision goes against Wal-Mart, the company might have to pay out billions of dollars in damages.
Robert J. Fleming is an experienced business trial lawyer. In addition to a law degree, Mr. Fleming has earned an MBA in finance, has acted as general counsel to a number of businesses, has successfully litigated many large fraud cases and has a successful business background. This unique set of experiences and skills has enabled Mr. Fleming to achieve record successes in this area.
If you would like to discuss your case with us, please call Robert J. Fleming, at (404) 525-5150 or contact us online. We are here to help.