Jury Awards $172M to Wal-Mart Employees

[praying]

California Jury Awards $172 Million to Wal-Mart Workers Who Claim They Were Denied Lunch Breaks


OAKLAND, Calif. Dec 22, 2005 — A California jury on Thursday awarded $172 million to thousands of employees at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. who claimed they were illegally denied lunch breaks.



http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=1434932&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

 

[AndreLinoge]

Good! Lunch is important; fuel for the body, rest for the mind.

 

[3girls2dogs]

California's Labor laws are super strict. When I worked in Cali, my employers were obsessive about lunch taking....the fine is huge, I am told.

 

[Letalis]

Yes, because a lunch break is worth 172 million dollars.

 

[Dracil]

That's 172m over 116,000 workers, or about 1482 per employee, over a course of 2 years worth of missed lunch breaks. Assuming an average of 100 missed lunches in a year because of different shifts, that's only about $7.40 per missed lunch, which is about right.

 

[Jacob4Jesus]

Good to hear. I have known a few people to try and cut lunch breaks for their employees. It's nice to see people breaking labor laws paying the consequences.

 

[CCGirl]

Wow....Draconian Labour Laws....

 

[MadeInOz]

There's only one language big business understands, and that is money...

 

[BMWandLinux]

those fines will be passed on to customers

 

[marblehead]

those fines will be passed on to customers

Then get your cheap, poorly made merchandise elsewhere.

 

[comana]

That's 172m over 116,000 workers, or about 1482 per employee, over a course of 2 years worth of missed lunch breaks. Assuming an average of 100 missed lunches in a year because of different shifts, that's only about $7.40 per missed lunch, which is about right.

Don't forget to subtract 1/3 for the lawyer.