Always In Court; Always Wal-Mart: Legal Developments

• In Georgia, a 22 year-old customer service manager, divorced mother of two, sues Wal-Mart over its health insurance plan which does not cover the cost of contraceptives. This violates federal regulations issued in 2000 by the EEOC which states that employers risk violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 if they fail to cover contraceptives but pay for other prescription drugs. The suit seeks class action status.
• In California, Wal-Mart is sued for sex discrimination, allegedly showing inequality in women's pay, compensation, and promotion. Seventy-two percent of Wal-Mart's hourly workers are women, but only one-third of the managers and supervisors are women.
• In Alabama, the EEOC sues Wal-Mart for violating a federal civil rights law when it failed to prevent the sexual harassment of women by a co-worker at the Mobile, Alabama store.
• In Washington, former Wal-Mart employees have joined with employees from at least 12 other states to sue Wal-Mart for not paying overtime. Wal-Mart is accused of locking workers in the store for hours, without pay, until managers had completed checks of every department. Workers say they complied because of threats that they would be fired.
• In San Francisco six women filed a sex discrimination law suit against Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart filed a motion to get the case moved to Arkansas because they claim the case "has no merit, and that even if it did, it should be heard in the court where Wal-Mart is headquartered." This would make it harder on the women who filed the suit, and move the case to an area where residents and judges most likely hold Wal-Mart stock.
• In Minnesota three black shoppers sued Wal-Mart after they were mistaken for robbers and arrested outside the store after making their purchase. They were handcuffed, forced on the ground, and searched for weapons. An employee had called 911 to report "suspicious black males." The three men were totally confused and feared for their lives.
• In Arixona, Wal-Mart was fined $750,000 for violating the ADA after denying ADA rights to deaf applicants.

• In Texas, meat cutters voted to create Wal-Mart's first unionized U.S. labor group. The NLRB filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart for threatening and firing members. Wal-Mart then started selling prepackaged meats so as to eliminate the need for in-store meat cutters.
• In California, Wal-Mart was caught in a violation of the ADA for pre-screening applicants. Wal-Mart was forced to pay $6.8 million to settle the lawsuit which was filed by the EEOC.
• In Arizona, a woman with diabetes was fired from her job. The EEOC sued Wal-Mart for violating the ADA by failing to provide reasonable accommodations for her. The inconvenience caused Wal-Mart to send her on forced leave, and then they fired her. She says she was harassed by supervisors about her disability.
• In Missouri and Kansas, two class-action lawsuits were filed against Wal-Mart for underpaying hourly workers. Wal-Mart allegedly forced employees to work off the clock, failed to pay them overtime wages, and prevented them from taking rest and lunch breaks. Wal-Mart allegedly encouraged its managers to keep costs down by convincing workers not to record all their time.
• In Milwaukee, a class action suit was filed against Wal-Mart for allegedly forcing its employees, using threats, to work without pay. Three employees say they were denied meal and rest periods.
• In Texas, Wal-Mart conceded: "We should have offered a memo on risks to shoppers." Nine suits were filed against Wal-Mart involving attacks in Wal-Mart parking lots in Beaumont, Houston and surrounding areas.
• In Pennsylvania, Tire and Lube Express workers wanted to unionize and were illegally discouraged by Wal-Mart from doing so. The NLRB filed a suit against Wal-Mart for unfair labor practices.