Wal-Mart In Hot Water. Again. Surprising Isn't It.

A friend of mine is working on a book about the inner workings of Wally World, and I've looked into them myself over the past few years. Denying lunch breaks might seem like a minor thing, but it's the tip of the iceberg regarding how they treat their employees.

Wal-Mart Accused of Denying Lunch Breaks
OAKLAND, Calif. - Lawyers representing about 116,000 former and current Wal-Mart Stores Inc. employees in California told a jury Monday that the world's largest retailer systematically and illegally denied workers lunch breaks.

The suit in Alameda County Superior Court is among about 40 cases nationwide alleging workplace violations against Wal-Mart, and the first to go to trial. Wal-Mart, which earned $10 billion last year, settled a lawsuit in Colorado for $50 million that contains similar allegations to California's class action. The company also is accused of paying men more than women in a federal lawsuit pending in San Francisco federal court.

As if the poor baby's hadn't enough problems; being caught with their threadbare pants down as Target and others grow with fashionable, reasonably priced clothings, home furnishings, and other upscale products, now this.

For the record, every Wal-Mart employee I've ever spoken to, and we're talking about several hundred since I became interested in their bizarre machinations, every one of them told stories of missing breaks and lunches, being told to punch in earlier than their scehdule, and not permitted to leave once the shift was done. Once you're on the property, working or even shopping, they don't ask, you come and go at their command.

Then, and here's the clincher, at the slightest provocation, let's say you only wanted to work your regular shift or really needed a break or a lunch, then they yank you into a manger's office and show you a time clock listing. A listing that details punching in and out at times different than your posted schedule...times they DEMANDED you do so, but which are now used as evidence of what they laughingly refer to as Time-Theft. Every employee has a schedule, usually posted outside of a lunch or break area. Employees follow that schedule or anomolies turn up as "exceptions" once the personnel manager verifies the amount of hours worked for each employee, per week. The vast majority of exceptions are from managers asking workers to come in early or leave late, but they ARE exceptions and nothing in writing is ever entered to account for the discrepancies. Go against their wishes, and they yank out the exception list and nail you for stealing time from the company, when all along you've been doing it at their behest.

Here's an example of how it works: You're shopping when a manager approaches you and asks if you'd like to work for a few hours. You agree, and because you've just punched in on a day off, it shows up as an unscheduled shift change. The manager in question notifies personnel that is was okay, but this is all verbal. Your review time comes around and if they want to hold it against you, they show the discrepancy hours, blame you for the discrepancy and around and around you go.

This is why most people are fearful of protesting against forced overtimes and missed lunch breaks. They know full well that Wal-Mart has "proof" of their malfeasance and can fire them on a moments notice, THEN fight against the terminated employees unemployment benefits by testifying how the employee was a "thief".

And this is the tip of the iceberg when working for the worst company in the United States, bar none. Bravo to the brave ones that stand up to these sweat-shop owners.