Aide claims harassment by Wal-Mart in fraud case
Posted on Thursday, August 31, 2006
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/165135/
A Wal-Mart corporate secretary filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the company, claiming she is being harassed for reporting that her bosses shredded documents subpoenaed in a federal investigation against Tom Coughlin.
Rita Miles, administrative assistant to Terry Srsen, vice president of labor relations for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in Bentonville, filed the lawsuit in U. S. District Court in Fayetteville.
Miles, who has worked for the company since 1999, said she called the U. S. attorney’s office in Fort Smith in May 2005 after her bosses began shredding documents requested under a federal subpoena, court documents state.
At the time, Wal-Mart was conducting an internal investigation into whether Coughlin, former Wal-Mart vice chairman, had used corporate funds to pay for anti-union activity, the court filing said. During the investigation, all documents were scanned into a database.
Hard copies of documents were shredded after the government’s subpoena was issued, despite a Wal-Mart attorney saying they should be preserved, the lawsuit documents state.
“[Miles ] immediately voiced her concern to the assembled group, emphasizing her belief that this procedure specifically violated not only the subpoena, but also the [corporate attorney’s ] instructions,” wrote James Lingle, Miles’ attorney.
Miles’ call to the U. S. attorney’s office prompted investigators to confiscate hard copies of all the documents related to the investigation, court records show.
“As a result to her having voiced her concerns, [Miles ] was immediately subject to retaliation with regard to specific and tangible terms and conditions of her employment,” Lingle wrote.
Coughlin, 57, was sentenced in August to 27 months of house arrest and five years’ probation for embezzling from Wal-Mart and lying on a federal income tax return. He pleaded guilty in January to five counts of wire fraud and one count of tax evasion.