Lawyer: Wal-Mart grew fat, workers paid price Wal-Mart Stores Inc. boosted profit at the expense of employees by pressuring store managers to cut payroll costs, a lawyer for two former workers said at the start of a trial in Philadelphia.
Hourly workers at Wal-Mart’s Pennsylvania stores were forced to skip more than 33 million breaks and 2 million meal periods between 1998 and 2001 because of the focus on cost cuts, attorney Michael Donovan said Friday in state court. His clients are suing Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, on behalf of about 186, 000 current and former employees in Pennsylvania.
The missed breaks and meals, mandated by Pennsylvania labor laws, added up to about 9 million hours of employee time, he said.
Michelle Braun and Dolores Hummel are seeking $ 300 million in damages in the lawsuit, one of more than 70 filed in federal and state courts that claim Wal-Mart failed to pay hourly wages for all time worked.
Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, has denied any violations of wage and hour laws. State chamber to hear Wal-Mart exec, Forbes John Menzer, vice chairman of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and Steve Forbes, president of Forbes Inc., will be featured speakers at the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting Sept. 26 in Hot Springs.
The two will speak at the luncheon from noon to 1: 30 p.m. at the Hot Springs Convention Center.
Menzer’s responsibilities include Wal-Mart stores in the United States, compliance, benefits, information systems, logistics, real estate, financial services and strategic planning.
Forbes also is editor-inchief of Forbes magazine. He campaigned for the Republican nomination for president in 1996 and 2000.
The cost to attend the meeting is $ 100. To register for the State Chamber and Associated Industries of Arkansas convention, contact Deb Mathis at (501 ) 372-2222 or e-mail her at dmathis@asccaia. org. Arkansas 20 adds 1. 94 as Deltic jumps 5. 2 %
The Arkansas 20, a priceweighted index that tracks public companies based in the state, gained 1. 94 to 207. 74 on Friday.
There were three times as many winners as losers on the index.
Deltic Timber Corp. jumped 5. 2 percent on almost twice its normal volume. Home Banc-Shares rose 3. 8 percent.
For the week, advancers and decliners were almost evenly split.
Home BancShares jumped 5. 8 percent, followed by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., up 4. 5 percent.
America’s Car-Mart Inc. fell 11. 9 percent for the week.
Volume on the index was 26. 1 million shares. The average daily volume is 22. 4 million shares.
The index, developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, has a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
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