Wal-Mart in $86 million settlement of wage lawsuit

NEW YORK
Wed May 12, 2010 11:00am EDT

About 232,000 people will share in the settlement, which was disclosed on Tuesday in a federal court filing.

It requires a minimum payout of $43 million, and "far exceeds other recent settlements" involving Wal-Mart, the filing shows. The accord requires court approval.

Wal-Mart spokesman Greg Rossiter declined to comment.

The world's largest retailer was accused in the original 2006 complaint of failing to pay a variety of wages to former workers as required under California law.

In agreeing to settle, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company did not concede that any wages remained unpaid, according to Tuesday's filing.

The settlement is separate from Wal-Mart's 2008 agreement to pay as much as $640 million to settle 63 federal and state class-action lawsuits alleging it deprived workers of wages.

Last December, Wal-Mart also agreed to pay $40 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over wages in Massachusetts.

The $86 million equals roughly two days of after-tax operating profit for Wal-Mart, regulatory filings show.

Wal-Mart shares were up 6 cents to $52.22 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The case is In re: Wal-Mart Stores Inc Wage and Hour Litigation, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 06-02069.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Additional reporting by Brad Dorfman in Chicago, editing by Dave Zimmerman)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64B3MG20100512