From The Philadelphia Inquirer:
The problem was always worse at the holidays, said Delores Killingsworth Barber, 25, of North Philadelphia.That's when she and other Wal-Mart workers say they missed many meal and rest breaks and that's when they'd sometimes have to work off the clock to get shelves restocked before the overnight crew came in.
Workers were told to "do whatever it takes to get it done; and if that meant missing your break, that's what had to be done," Barber testified in a Philadelphia courtroom yesterday. She is one of several former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. employees to take the stand in a class-action lawsuit involving 186,000 current and former employees of Wal-Mart, the state's largest private employer.The case in Common Pleas Court is the third class-action lawsuit over wage and hour issues to go to trial. In December, California jurors ordered the big-box retailer to pay $172.3 million in compensatory and punitive damages to 115,919 current and former workers at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores in California who missed meal breaks. Wal-Mart said it would appeal.
In Oregon, 90 Wal-Mart workers got about $2,000 each, and a case was settled in Colorado for $50 million.Pennsylvania's case is bigger than California's because it involves more plaintiffs and three issues - off-the-clock work, missed rest breaks, and missed meal breaks. At least 40 similar suits have been filed, according to Bloomberg News.
Wal-Mart has been under attack from unions and activists over its employment policies, health benefits and business practices. The discount retailer has responded by improving its benefits, embarking on public relations campaigns, and donating money to community causes.
Yesterday, Wal-Mart executives, who testified by video, said it was up to store managers to make sure that employees got their breaks.
"If they are getting tired and they don't get their meals and their rest, their productivity comes down," testified Joseph Campbell, Pennsylvania's regional personnel manager in 2004 and 2005.
He said that Wal-Mart had an "open-door" policy for workers' complaints, but he received few about missed breaks. When he did receive them, he said, he investigated them.
Barber, who worked at the Wal-Mart on Roosevelt Boulevard from July 2003 to May 2005, said that when the stores closed, cashiers working the 3 p.m. to midnight shift would "zone" the store, returning carts of discarded merchandise to the shelves.
If they did not finish, they could not leave. Sometimes they would have clocked out, but then were called back to the floors. Sometimes they would fill out forms to get paid. Other times, "you just wanted to get out of the door," she said.
When she worked the overnight shift as a stock clerk, she would have 40 to 50 pallets of merchandise to unload during the holiday season - work she said should have been handled by at least two people.
Sometimes, to make sure she finished, she would take her meal and rest breaks at the end of the shift. The company fired her for that, she said, accusing her of stealing time.
Under questioning by Wal-Mart's attorney, she said that she often got paid overtime. The attorney said that time clock records showed she only missed 24 lunch breaks, but she said she missed more than that.
The case, which opened Sept. 8, is being heard by Common Court Pleas judge Mark I. Bernstein, who handles complex class-action cases.
While most of the attorneys are from out of town and traveling around the nation on these cases, local attorneys are Michael Donovan, of Donovan Searles in Center City, for the employees, and Brian P. Flaherty of Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-Cohen for Wal-Mart.
Posted by Laura - September 26, 2006 10:17 AM - In The News