Wal-Mart fined $172m in ‘lunch breaks’ row

WAL-MART, the US retail giant which, through its ownership of the Asda supermarket chain, could finally enter the Irish market next year, has been hit with a $172m (€145m) fine for mistreating employees in California.

The order was handed down by the Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland and related to Wal-Mart cheating employees out of lunch breaks. In all, the case concerned 116,000 staff.

According to Chris Lebsock, a lawyer representing the Wal-Mart employees: "The jury found there was malice, fraud and oppression in denying the lunch breaks."

"Our basic theme was that Wal-Mart runs itself on a skeleton crew because it is cheap. I do believe that workers were abused by Wal-Mart," Mr Lebsock added.

For its part, Wal-Mart - not only the world's largest retailer but also the single biggest private employer in the US has vowed to appeal the verdict. The company has, however, conceded that it had "compliance issues" regarding giving its staff legally-mandated lunch breaks four years ago, when this civil suit was originally filed.

However, the company claims it has since corrected its behaviour over the matter.

Since 2001, Californian law has stated shift workers must get meal breaks or be compensated with extra pay. In the Wal-Mart case, workers apparently got neither.

An unresolved part of the civil suit, charging Wal-Mart with refusing to give its workers legally required rest breaks, is still before the courts in Oakland.