Retail giant Wal-Mart has been ordered to pay an additional US$62.3m in damages to staff in Pennsylvania after a court ruled the company had violated the state’s labour laws.
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A judge stipulated ruled that Wal-Mart did not have a “good faith” reason for underpaying the workers, and should pay damages to some over 124,500 employees who worked at its stores between January 2002 and October 2006.
The ruling brings the total compensation in the case to $140.8m. Last year, the workers were awarded $78.5m in damages.
The court ruled that employees had been forced to work “off the clock” or during rest breaks. Attorneys appearing for the plaintiffs claimed Wal-Mart had made its Pennsylvania employees skip more than 33m rest breaks between 1998 and 2001.
Wal-Mart said it respected but disagreed with the court’s decision and is considering an appeal. “While Wal-Mart respects the court and the jury, we strongly disagree with the decision against the company in this case,” a Wal-Mart spokesperson said. “It is our policy to pay every associate for every hour worked, and any manager who violates that policy is subject to discipline up to and including termination.”
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By GlobalDataWal-Mart said that the employees had skipped breaks or cut short rest periods of their own volition. But workers claimed in court that they had been pressured into doing so by managers.
This is not the first time the world’s largest retailer has faced such proceedings. In fact, the company currently faces more than 70 labour-related lawsuits.
Late last year, a California court found against the retailer, compelling it to pay $172m in damages and compensation to around 116,000 current and former workers, also for denying meal breaks.
