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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Wal-Mart Named in Class Action Lawsuit |
Current rating: 1 |
by matthew
(No verified email address) |
12 Jun 2001
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Wal-Mart named in a class action lawsuit filed by former employees charged with "wage abuse" and "brainwashing." |
Article Summary: (Article reprinted at the bottom of this post)
Brian Rathjen of the Clinton (Iowa) Herald reports, in the 8 June 2001 edition, of a class action lawsuit filed by two former employees of the corporate mega-chain Wal-Mart. The two women, Sally Mussman and Taylor Vogue allege among other charges that Wal-Mart engages in a \"scheme of wage abuse\" which includes managers denying employees rest and lunch breaks, forcing them to sing the company song, and worst of all pressuring them to complete inflated work loads after hours, and off the clock.
Commentary: (my own)
This case, if it ever makes it court (or into the national press for that matter) could help battle the swelling tide of \"corporate culture\" and its demands on the personal time of employees. Wal-Mart’s tactics seem akin to the tactics employed by all manner of employers regardless the color of the collar or the size of the paycheck. Employees are constantly besieged by messages of teamwork, community and loyalty, not horrible values in themselves, but when its loyalty to an employer who pays substandard wages that is demanded, \"loyalty\" can be easily manipulated into \"subservience.\" Although, cynically, I have little faith that this particular lawsuit will reach beyond the workers of an Iowa Wal-Mart, hopefully it will raise questions regarding how far into an employees personal life (and mind for that matter) an employer is allowed to reach.
This story received only 10s or so of airtime on the FOX Chicago evening news, focused mainly on belittling the claims of brainwashing made by the employees, and generally making light of the idea altogether.
Lawsuit is filed against Wal-Mart
Jun 8 2001 12:00AM
By Brian Rathjen Herald Staff Writer
CLINTON - Two Clinton-area women, both of them former employees of the Wal-Mart Supercenter, 2715 S. 25th St., have alleged the company engages in wage abuse and have filed a class-action lawsuit against the company. Sally Mussmann and Taylor Vogue filed the 32-page class-action lawsuit against Wal-Mart and its management this week in Clinton County District Court.
The suit, which lists 11 causes of action, names the Bentonville, Ark.,-headquartered company, Clinton store manager Tom Meyer and Iowa district manager Kevin Connell as defendants. In their petition, Mussmann and Vogue allege that Wal-Mart engages \"in a uniform and systematic scheme of wage abuse\" against its hourly-paid employees. The women claim the company failed to record and pay employees for off-the-clock work and overtime, altered employees\' time records and prevented employees from taking and/or completing lunch and rest breaks. Mussmann and Vogue seek unspecified payment for lost wages and other damages for \"all current and former hourly-paid employees of Wal-Mart stores\" in Iowa.
Earlier this year, Mussman, Vogue and another former Clinton Wal-Mart employee filed complaints with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission against the store. Those complaints alleged discrimination on the basis of age, gender and creed. A civil rights commission spokesman declined to specify the status of the complaints. In their lawsuit, Mussman and Vogue equate Wal-Mart to a cult that \"attempts to brainwash its employees to work mindlessly for mother Wal-Mart.\" They also accuse the company of forcing employees \"to be \'team players,\'\" give up earned wages for the company and sing the Wal-Mart song virtually every day. Store managers also give employees work assignments they know cannot be completed within their scheduled hours but then pressure them to complete the work anyway, according to the suit. \"Although Wal-Mart claims that it \'respects the individual\' and welcomes associates into its \'family,\' Wal-Mart rides the back of its hourly employees to extreme profitability,\" the suit stated. Mussman and Vogue further charge the existence of a system that encourages massive \"off-the-clock\" work from its hourly employees.
Catherine Cartee, a Davenport attorney representing Mussman and Vogue, declined comment on the suit. Also representing the plaintiffs is Des Moines attorney Joseph Gunderson. Wal-Mart corporate spokesman Tom Williams said his company does not tolerate allowing employees to work without pay, nor does it condone forcing employees to work overtime or make them work without rest breaks. \"Any managers practicing this will be disciplined and could be dismissed,\" said Williams, declining to speak specifically on the lawsuit. \"We do not tolerate any nonpayment for overtime or any other aspects that are not fair or not proper.\" No trial date has been set.
©Clinton Herald 2001 |
See also:
http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=46408&group=webcast
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