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June 25, 2002, The New York Times, "Suits Say Wal-Mart
Forces Workers to Toil Off the Clock"
After finishing her 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. shift, Verette Richardson
clocked out and was heading to her car when a Wal-Mart manager
ordered her to turn around and straighten up the store's apparel
department. Eager not to get on her boss's bad side, she said,
she spent the next hour working unpaid, tidying racks of slacks
and blouses and picking up hangers and clothes that had fallen
to the floor. Other times after clocking out, she was ordered
to round up shopping carts in the parking lot. |
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Wal-Mart
Employment Practices
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| 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). The plaintiffs
are current and former Wal-Mart employees who allege that Wal-Mart has
violated state wage and hour laws. |
| 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.
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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 click
here
to contact Lieff Cabraser.
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| One
of the class representatives in the New York lawsuit, Maria Gamble of
Suffolk County, New York, claims that while she worked at Wal-Mart as
a customer service manager, Wal-Mart supervisors locked her in the store
with her co-employees after the store closed when all employees were "off-the-clock."
Ms. Gamble described her experiences at Wal-Mart: |
"When
I worked at Wal-Mart, we were routinely expected to work at times when
we were not paid. The worst part of this was we were locked-in to the
store at night. Every week, I worked at least one shift that went from
2 p.m. to 10 p.m. or 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. When the store closed at the
end of my shift, the manager or the person closing the store would lock
the exterior doors but the hourly employees like me would have to remain
in the store and restock merchandise and count out the cash registers,
even though we had already clocked off and were not getting paid. The
tasks we had to do after the store closed always took at least an hour-and-a-half,
and often two hours. The doors weren't unlocked until the work was completed.
There were other ways in which I wasn't paid for time I was working,
as well, such as mandatory attendance at unpaid meetings, and times
I had to work through lunch and breaks."
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| The
lawsuits seek back pay for each hour employees were required to work,
including overtime, for which they were not paid. 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. |
| In
October 2004, the court in Washington granted class certification to
a class of approximately 40,000 current and former Wal-Mart employees.
As of 2007, that decision is still on appeal in Washington. |
| Founded
in 1972, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP is a fifty-plus
attorney law firm with offices in San Francisco, New York and Nashville.
We represent plaintiffs in federal and state courts across America in
employment and discrimination cases. Over the past decade, we participated
in some of the most important civil trials and settlements in the United
States, including the case on behalf of commercial fishermen and local
businesses against Exxon for the Exxon
Valdez oil disaster and the 1998 landmark $206 billion settlement
between 46 states and the tobacco industry. |
| Lieff
Cabraser practices in federal district courts throughout the United States
and in state courts where we are licensed to practice. In states in which
Lieff Cabraser attorneys are not licensed to practice, we have affiliations
with local counsel who serve as co-counsel with our firm. |
| This website is sponsored by Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP,
a national plaintiffs' law firm, and is not affiliated in any way with
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. |
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LIEFF
CABRASER HEIMANN & BERNSTEIN, LLP
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| Notice: Lieff
Cabraser attorneys provide legal advice and practice law for clients in
federal district courts throughout the United States and in state courts
where we are licensed to practice. In states in which our lawyers are not
licensed to practice, we have affiliations with local attorneys who serve
as co-counsel with our firm. Please read our disclaimer. |
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Copyright © 2008 Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein,
LLP
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Read how we hold employers liable for discrimination and other unfair workplace practices. |
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