Mills Law Firm Wins $85 Million For Wal-Mart Employees in 30 State Class Action

Wal-Mart Wins Final Approval of Workers’ Wage Suit Settlement

By Margaret Cronin Fisk

Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, won final approval of a settlement paying as much as $85 million to hourly workers who sued over allegations of unpaid wages.

U.S. District Judge Philip M. Pro in Las Vegas approved the settlement yesterday and awarded one-third of the recovery in fees to the workers’ lawyers, up to about $28 million depending on the claims made. Walmart is to pay at least $65 million and as much as $85 million.

The workers claimed that Bentonville, Arkansas-based Walmart violated wage-and-hour laws by denying them rest breaks and manipulating time cards to reduce their pay. The accord is part of a global $640 million resolution of wage-and-hour claims reached in December between Walmart and workers.

“We’re going to seem some real money distributed to people,” said workers’ attorney Carolyn Beasley Burton. “Hundreds of thousands of people will get a check in the next few months of $150 to $1,000. It’s a nice little stimulus package.”

Walmart will also pay $5 million to the retirement plans of its workers in these states, she said. This is beyond the $85 million allotted for the class actions, she said.

The settlement covers more than 30 lawsuits in federal courts brought by workers and combined before the judge. Walmart also faced lawsuits by workers in multiple state courts, most of which were resolved by the global settlement. Pro said only 14 objections were made by Walmart workers out of more than 3 million class members.

Good for Company

“Resolving this litigation is in the best interest of our company, our shareholders and our associates,” Tom Mars, Walmart general counsel, said in December when announcing the global settlement. “Many of these lawsuits were filed years ago and the allegations are not representative of the company we are today.”

Daphne Moore, a company spokeswoman, declined to comment yesterday beyond the December statement.