EMPLOYMENT LAW: Wal-Mart Agrees to Settle, Pay Up to $86 M to Former Workers

May 12, 2010

California – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has agreed to pay up to $86 million to its former workers in California to settle a wage-and-hour class action lawsuit brought against them in 2006 through the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California, reports said.

In a statement released Wednesday, the company said that the case Ballard v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. should be settled once trial and appellate courts approve the agreement that should provide some 232,000 former workers not less than $43 million but not more than $86 million.

Included in the agreement is the company’s compliance to applicable laws on wage-and-hour policies by using different electronic measures to ensure Wal-Mart’s compliance.

Despite the agreement, the world’s largest retailer maintains their belief that they do not owe their former workers any wage.

The settlement should provide about $74 million unpaid wages and $12 million in vacation pays to the terminated workers who joined the class-action lawsuit.