Wal-Mart ordered to pay $78m to workers

A News item from Business Respect, Issue Number 105, dated 13 Oct 2006

Wal-Mart has been ordered to pay compensation to workers who were forced to work during breaks by a US court in Pennsylvania. The company was found to have broken state law by refusing to pay employees for extra work they carried out by demand.

The order was the outcome of a class action lawsuit brought by around 187,000 staff who worked for the company over the last ten years. It stated that the company had routinely gotten hourly staff to work extra hours "off the clock", and that this represented one of the company's "undisclosed secrets" for profitability.

Wal-Mart has said that it will appeal the decision.

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