Thread: Judge hands Wal-Mart a victory

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl ... 90325/1003
IN LAWSUIT: Racketeering claims dismissed

THE ISSUE: Employment of illegal workers
Judge hands Wal-Mart a victory
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 08/29/06
BLOOMBERG NEWS SERVICE

A New Jersey federal judge has dismissed civil racketeering claims against Wal-Mart Stores Inc., narrowing the scope of a lawsuit that accuses the world's largest retailer of knowingly employing illegal immigrants to clean its stores.

U.S. District Judge Joseph A. Greenaway Jr. in Newark said Monday that the immigrant janitors who sued failed to adequately support their claims. The janitors said Wal-Mart kept labor costs down by using illegal immigrants, forced them into involuntary servitude and conspired with contractors to launder money.

Among the original plaintiffs is Victor Zavala Jr., a Red Bank resident who was hired by Millstone Township-based Facility Solutions International, which had contracts to clean Wal-Mart stores in Old Bridge and Piscataway.

Zavala, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, was among 250 janitors arrested in 2003 at 60 Wal-Mart stores in 21 states in a federal raid. He and other janitors sued Wal-Mart, saying the company knew its stores were being cleaned by illegal workers but ignored it.

Wal-Mart wasn't charged criminally, but it agreed last year to pay an $11 million fine for using illegal workers and pledged to improve oversight of its contractors, ending a federal probe.

Twelve Wal-Mart cleaning contractors pleaded guilty to criminal charges and paid a total of $4 million. Facility Solutions wasn't one of the contractors in the settlement.

A court "will not accept unsupported conclusions, unwarranted inferences, or sweeping legal conclusions cast in the form of factual allegations," Greenaway said in a 17-page opinion. The ruling will cut the number of janitors in the suit to about 200, which includes Zavala, from several thousand, said their attorney, James Linsey.

Wal-Mart still faces a possible trial on some of the janitors' claims. The judge previously rejected Wal-Mart's request to throw out allegations that the company forced janitors to work unpaid overtime and locked them in stores against their will.

"We are pleased with the judge's decision, but there are claims pending," Wal-Mart spokesman John Simley said.

Shares of Wal-Mart (WT) rose 55 cents, to $44.43, in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They have fallen 5.1 percent this year, valuing the company at $185.2 billion.

The loss of the racketeering claims makes the case a collective action, instead of a class action, Linsey said in an interview. That means the janitors will have to pursue individual claims, rather than sue as a group.

"We believe the judge's analysis is at odds with the law," Linsey said. He said he hasn't decided whether to appeal.

Wal-Mart faces more than 70 wage-and-hour lawsuits, including class-action cases charging that it docked breaks and altered time cards to cut payroll costs. Hourly employees in California won a $172 million verdict in December over unpaid meal breaks. The company faces similar trials in Philadelphia in September and Massachusetts in October.

The suit was filed on behalf of immigrants, documented and undocumented, who were employed as janitors to clean Wal-Mart stores in the U.S.

Business writer Michael L. Diamond contributed to this story.


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Ya know, Sam Walton would be rolling in his grave if he knew what his stores have turned into.

All that investigation and wrangling over 250 illegals.

Just give me some buses and I will park it at the door of a poultry plant at shift change time and we can get that many in a matter of minutes.

Just wonder if some of these case ICE is bringing is n ot to set precedent so other employers can get away with claiming they didn't 'knowingly' hire illegals?

I don' t trust our government. They are working against us in every way they can.

I actually heard a man testifying at some hearing, just lately, and he was telling what a wonderful job that was done at the IFCO (pallet plants). He neglected to mention most of those arrested were turned loose that afternoon and many others turned loose later.

It sounds good - but it is a smokescreen.

People, your government is going to do nothing about this - they are going to attempt to thwart the people at every turn.

This is stupid. Illegals shouldn't be allowed to use our courts in the first place. If anyone should be suing Walmart, it should be the citizens of America, who's jobs got stolen from them by the illegals in the first place.

<<<<<If anyone should be suing Walmart, it should be the citizens of America, who's jobs got stolen from them by the illegals in the first place.>>>

I agree.

Actually, I think Americans should be suing our government and politicians for their failure to enforce the laws and for the damages - both physical and financial caused us by illegals.

All we need is lawyers who are willing to take on the jobs.

If we could get one to start, I am sure they could find plenty of volunteers to do the stepping-n-fetching for them. I'd volunteer.