Wal-Mart cleaners arrested in sweep
By Stephanie Armour and Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY
In a sweeping crackdown on undocumented workers, federal agents arrested more than 300 people at Wal-Mart stores in 21 states Thursday and raided the retail giant's world headquarters in Arkansas. (Video: Gov. Huckabee defends retailer)

The workers arrested are members of cleaning crews that the company hired through a contractor.
By Mike Wintroath, AP file

Wal-Mart said Friday it would review all of its 1.1 million U.S. workers and fire any that aren't legally employed.
The government's decision to go after Wal-Mart (WMT), the world's largest employer, underscored an aggressive and ongoing effort to enforce labor laws involving undocumented workers.The workers from Eastern Europe, Central America and Asia, hired by contractors to fill cleaning crews, were arrested at 60 stores. Agents also hauled several boxes of documents from an executive's office at Wal-Mart headquarters. A sealed criminal complaint alleges that immigration violations took place with "direct knowledge" by Wal-Mart executives, according to Department of Homeland Security officials. Evidence includes taped conversations between Wal-Mart executives, they said.

But Wal-Mart officials said the boxes were seized from a manager's office and that they were unaware that the workers were undocumented.

"No, we did not know," Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mona Williams said. "Our understanding was that these third-party agencies had only legal workers."

Though contract cleaning crews were the focus of the sweep, Williams said Friday that about 10 Wal-Mart associates in Arizona and Kentucky were among those arrested. "These are people who used to be part of the outside cleaning crew, and when we took that in-house, these folks were simply hired on as employees," Williams said. "They got caught up in the immigration sweep."

Michael Garcia, acting assistant secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said the arrests were a "a significant enforcement action" and "aimed at companies that are employing illegal workers and increasing their profit margins by violating our immigration laws." The arrests should serve as a wake-up to employers to make sure contracts with third parties ensure workers are not undocumented, said Larry Lorber, a Washington D.C., labor lawyer.

Employers who hire independent contractors directly also need to be sure those employees are legal. Companies convicted of knowingly hiring illegal immigrants face fines of up to $10,000 per worker.

"Ultimately, you are responsible," Lorber said. "Employers do have an obligation to make sure people who work for them are legal to work in the U.S."
Wal-Mart uses more than 100 third-party contractors to perform cleaning services in more than 700 stores, Williams said, and those contractors are required to use only legal workers.

The arrests stem from a November 1998 investigation done with the Pennsylvania attorney general's office. That inquiry also targeted store-cleaning contractors and subcontractors used by Wal-Mart.

The cleaning crews did not receive health insurance and were paid below the minimum wage, sometimes as little as $2 a day, a federal official said.

The workers arrested Thursday were released if they had no criminal records, but they must appear later before immigration judges. Arrests were made in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia, ICE officials said.

There are believed to be more than 7 million illegal immigrants in the USA. The government beefed up immigration enforcement after the Sept. 11 attacks and rising unemployment in the nation's workforce.Contributing: Lorrie Grant, wire reports





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Illegal Workers Sue Wal-Mart

Nine illegal immigrants who worked as janitors at Wal-Mart until they were arrested during federal raids last month have sued the company, accusing it of discrimination.

The nine say they were paid lower wages and offered fewer benefits because they are Mexicans, and they accuse Wal-Mart and its cleaning contractors of failing to pay for overtime, withhold taxes or make required workers' compensation contributions.
Their lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Superior Court in Freehold, N.J., seeks more than $200,000 in back pay. The action mirrors existing lawsuits filed against Wal-Mart by legal U.S. workers that also allege violations of overtime laws or discrimination.

The illegal immigrant plaintiffs, who now face deportation, were among 250 people arrested in an Oct. 23 federal immigration crackdown at 60 Wal-Mart stores in 21 states. Theirs is the first lawsuit among the immigrants arrested.
According to the lawsuit, Wal-Mart employed cleaning contractors "with full knowledge" that they paid illegal immigrants less than legal workers.

"Wal-Mart must have known about these violations," the immigrant's lawyer, Gilberto Garcia, told The New York Times. "If these people are going to work at Wal-Marts, then Wal-Mart and its contractors should abide by the labor laws."

Mona Williams, Wal-Mart vice president of communications, said the company did not know about the alleged labor violations or that the contractors used illegal immigrants. She said Wal-Mart has long insisted that its contractors obey the law.

"Clearly, hungry lawyers are converging on these illegal immigrants as if they were accident victims," Williams said. "We have seen absolutely no evidence showing that Wal-Mart did anything wrong."

She acknowledged that Wal-Mart has received a letter from federal prosecutors warning that it faces a grand jury investigation into illegal immigrants employed at its stores. An employer can face civil and criminal penalties for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants or failing to comply with certain employee record keeping regulations.

The plaintiffs say they worked at least 56 hours a week and were not paid time and a half for overtime, hours worked beyond 40 a week. They say they were paid $350-$500 a week.
Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer and the largest private employer in the United States, has 1.1 million domestic employees and about 3,500 stores.

According to the company's most recent annual report, Wal-Mart faces several allegations that it cheats employees. In 33 class action lawsuits in 31 states, plaintiffs allege that Wal-Mart "forced them to work 'off the clock' and failed to provide work breaks."
Wal-Mart is also a defendant in a California case, Dukes v. Wal-Mart, which alleges "a pattern and practice of discriminating against women in promotions, pay, training, and job assignments."



ILLEGAL ARE DISAPEARING FROM WALMART WORK FORCE.