Wal-Mart Employment Practices
Introduction
Lieff Cabraser and co-counsel represent separate classes of hourly wage earners at Wal-Mart in the States of Washington and New York who allegedly have been forced to work "off-the-clock" (without pay) and through meal and rest breaks. The plaintiffs are current and former Wal-Mart employees who allege that Wal-Mart has violated state wage and hour laws.
Wal-Mart's Alleged Misconduct
The lawsuits in New York and Washington charge that Wal-Mart, the self-proclaimed fastest growing and largest private employer in the United States, has systematically avoided paying employees their full, earned wages. Wal-Mart provides perverse incentives for managers to lower overhead costs, the largest component of which is employee payroll, by offering financial compensation and bonuses.
Managers subsequently under-staff projects and Wal-Mart stores in general. These efforts force employees to work off-the-clock and through lunch and rest breaks. Managers pressure employees to complete assignments, while refusing to permit employees to stay on-the-clock for the full amount of time it takes to accomplish their duties.
The class action lawsuits include specific allegations that Wal-Mart:
- understaffs its stores and pressures employees to complete assignments while refusing to permit employees to stay on-the-clock for the time it takes to accomplish them;
- denies pay for time worked off-the-clock, through meal or rest breaks, and overtime; and
- keeps employees locked in Wal-Mart stores after closing and requires that they remain there after clocking out until store managers have visited every department.
New York and Washington Investigation
We are actively investigating Wal-Mart's practices in New York and Washington in order to present further evidence to the courts in these cases. It is important for us to show the courts why they need to protect all Wal-Mart employees in these states by treating the cases as class action lawsuits. Therefore, we would like to hear from current or former Wal-Mart employees in New York or Washington about your experiences at Wal-Mart. Please feel free to
contact Lieff Cabraser.
Damages Sought
The lawsuits seek back pay for each hour employees were required to work, including overtime, for which they were not paid. In Washington, the lawsuit also seeks damages for missed breaks. The cases in New York and Washington are brought on behalf of current and former employees in Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores in these respective states that have been underpaid and overworked by the national retailer.
Update
In October 2004, the court in Washington granted class certification to
a class of approximately 40,000 current and former Wal-Mart employees.
The order granting class certification was upheld on appeal. The
Wal-Mart Washington case is scheduled to commence on April 27, 2009.
In the New York case, the trial court denied class certification and plaintiffs
filed an appeal, which is pending.
About Lieff Cabraser
Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, is a 50-plus attorney law firm with offices in San Francisco, New York and Nashville. Our firm is committed to protecting the rights of employees nationwide to equitable treatment and fair wages. Lieff Cabraser employment attorneys have represented thousands of employees seeking to vindicate their rights in cases involving gender and race discrimination, overtime pay and wage and hour violations, and the mishandling of funds in pension and 401k plans.
We served as counsel in a class action suit against Abercrombie & Fitch, which led to a novel, precedent-setting settlement in 2005. The settlement required the retail clothing giant to pay $40 million to Latino, African-American, Asian-American and female applicants and employees who charged the company with discrimination. In addition, Abercrombie was required to promote diversity among its workforce and to prevent discrimination based on race or gender.
We served as class counsel for approximately 25,000 female employees of,
and applicants for employment with, Home Depot. In 1998, the Court approved
a settlement of the case in which Home Depot agreed to modify its hiring,
promotion and compensation practices, and paid $87.5 million, one of the highest
amounts ever paid in a gender discrimination case.
Lieff Cabraser has obtained lost wages and benefits for employees in overtime pay lawsuits, including the successful representation of employees of Denny's, Carrow's, the advertising firm TMP Worldwide, the California State Automobile Association, as well as several corporations in the computer industry including IBM and Computer Sciences Corporation.
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