The workers sued under Pennsylvania rather than federal law, but regardless of the venue, Wal-Mart's practices regarding overtime were in violation of both federal and state standards regarding overtime.
Regarding work breaks, federal law, like Pennsylvania law, also does not require lunch or coffee breaks. "However, when employers do offer short breaks (usually lasting about 5 to 20 minutes), federal law considers the breaks work-time that must be paid," which they were not in the case of Wal-Mart ("Breaks and Meal Periods," U.S. Department of Labor, 2006) the case was argued before Philadelphia's Court of Common Pleas. The employees' attorneys argued that Wal-Mart employees were forced to work through their breaks "because the company wanted to maximize profits." ("Pennsylvania jury fines Wal-Mart $78 million," MS.NBC, 2006) at times, the attorney may have used a sympathetic or emotional strategy to win the case, rather than deploying concrete legal evidence. "Wal-Mart doesn't understand anything but numbers," he said. "In order for Wal-Mart to understand this, it needs to see numbers, big numbers." He even asked the jury to "send a message to corporate America," although the judge struck this remark from the record. ("Pennsylvania jury fines Wal-Mart $78 million," MS.NBC, 2006)
Regardless of this questionable persuasive technique, Wal-Mart's defense lacked credibility. They argued that many employees had in fact taken breaks without swiping their ID cards to indicate they were on a break, thus the amount that the plaintiffs were asking for, was far too much -- in essence, that Wal-Mart employees had cheated the company of paid labor, as well as the fact that the company had perhaps cheated Wal-Mart employees, thus it evened out. Even less convincingly, the...
Wal-Mart asked the jury to award $287,000 for off-the- clock working and $6.65 million for missed rest breaks, rather than the 78.47 million in damages Wal-Mart bestowed. ("Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Form 10-Q," 2005, p.7) Wal-Mart, unsurprisingly, has vowed to appeal the verdict.
Works Cited
Breaks and Meal Periods." U.S. Department of Labor. 2006. [21 Oct 2006]
http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/workhours/breaks.htm
General Information on the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)." U.S. Department of Labor. 2006. [21 Oct 2006] http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/mwposter_PF.htm
Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry: Wage and Hourly Division." The Department of Labor and Industry: PA. Last modified January 13, 2006. [21 Oct 2006] http://www.dli.state.pa.us/landi/cwp/view.asp?a=142&Q=61106#10
Pennsylvania jury fines Wal-Mart $78 million: Largest retailer found to have forced
Employees to work during breaks." MSNBC. October 13, 2006. [21 Oct 2006] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15251910/
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Form 10-Q." October 31, 2005.. [21 Oct 2006] http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/104169/000010416905000019/wmt10q_q3fy2006.htm
