Is This a Crock or What??

[Joan]

FREEHOLD, N.J. - 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 benefit 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, seeks more than $200,000 in back pay.

The 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.


These wetbacks knew exactly what they were doing - I say send their asses back to Mexico - crack down on other companies using the same tactics - and fine them heartily!! They paid no taxes, no nothing - they are in this country illegally!! Case closed. I see van loads of Mexicans every morning on my way to work, with NY plates on the vans, being dropped off at several factories in Edison.

 

[NightTrain]

Yep.

Wal-Mart is a ruthless company, no question. I've read articles detailing the tactics employed by Wally World, and the treatment of its employees is substandard.

I have an old high school girlfriend that works at the local Wal Mart here in Wasilla, I understand there's Big Brother (Wal Mart Style) everywhere. What really is bizarre is their policy of requiring employees to gather and sing before work every day. Can you imagine being forced to sing a company song?? I don't know the song, and I don't wanna know. It creeps me out.

The pay is atrocious (at least by Alaskan standards), and every attempt to organize the workers into a union to gain better pay and benefits has been met with company specialist teams to put down the rebellion. The one time it was successful in a meat department resulted in the butcher department being closed down (oops, we don't need you, see ya!) and the store selling only prepackaged meat.

As far as hiring illegals, I sincerely hope that company gets hammered hard for it. Illegal and unethical, all the way around.