This story will put lots of smiles on lots of faces...as long as you don't work in Bentonville, Arkansas.
A Pennsylvania jury said on Friday that Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, must pay $78.47 million in damages to current and former Pennsylvania employees for forcing them to work “off the clock” or during rest breaks.
Good thing those employees didn't work in their own businesses.
This story to me is three-fold.
- The world according to business.
- The world according to employees.
- The world according to lawyers.
(The jury) awarded about $2.5 million for off-the-clock working and about $76 million for lost rest breaks between March of 1998 and May of 2006.
Now, I admit right up front that I don't have an extensive background working for a large corporation. My family history is almost exclusively entrepreneurial. My great, great, great grandfather started a family business that remained in the family for nearly 60 years. Most of my immediate family own and operate their own businesses. So when people talk about having to work during a break, or having their lunch break interrupted, we shake our heads and smile. Welcome to the real world. So unfortunately, I literally lack the genetic makeup to empathize with this.
Mike Donovan, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said the jury’s verdict was “a home run.”
“They awarded everything we asked for,” he said.
“The message of today’s verdict to large retailers is that they can’t say one thing to their employees and do another.”
From where I come from, this is a non-issue. In fact, you get labeled a lazy whiner for even bringing the subject up
“Wal-Mart doesn’t understand anything but numbers,” he said. “In order for Wal-Mart to understand this, it needs to see numbers, big numbers.”
So do small business owners. Are they now going to sue every pizza joint and landscaping company for not providing breaks and health insurance? Where does it stop? Right off, I'm thinking nationalized healthcare.
(Wal-Mart attorney, Neal Manne) ...urged jurors to consider that some employees may have missed parts of their breaks because they wanted to keep working.
I've met these type of people, who would rather interrupt their break than to see a customer who needs help go unattended. To me, I see them as heroes on a small scale. I bet a single parent trying to corral a couple of slightly bored and antsy pre-schoolers would think so too. Apparantly that's unacceptable behavior according to these plaintiffs and their lawyers.
But the last word come from Wall Street.
Wal-Mart shares closed up 14 cents at $48.46 on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday.
Hmmmm.....
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