It’s funny, just earlier today I noted how Target’s claim that unions are unnecessary these days because laws protect employees assumes that employers comply with those laws. I noted in that context that many, many nonunion employers do not comply with those laws. Take Target’s main rival Walmart, for example.
It just lost its appeal from a 2006 decision requiring it to pay some $180 million to employees for unpaid wages. In 2008, it agreed to pay between $360-$640 (!) million to settle 63 complaints against it from 42 U.S. States for unpaid wages and forced overtime involving thousands of workers. I noted another case back in 2008 in which a Minnesota court found that Walmart had violated wage laws “2 million times”. Walmart settled that case for a mere $54 million.
It’s reasonable to assume that the cases that actually come forward represent only a portion of instances in which Walmart is violating employment laws at any given time, would you agree?
Meanwhile, Walmart was in the U.S. Supreme Court this spring trying to prevent a class action by 1.5 million female employees from being certified. Dukes v. Walmart is worth billions of dollars were Walmart to lose. It alleges long-standing systemic discrimination against women employees. Then there is the $17.5 million settlement of a case alleging racial discrimination in hiring by Wal-Mart, the settlements of lawsuits alleging discrimination in employment on the basis of disability (also here), and so on.
You get the idea. If only Walmart would direct more money at its employees and less at its lawyers (no offence to all my lawyer friends), perhaps we’d see fewer of these cases. Dare to dream…
