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| Illegal Immigrant Workers Sue Wal-Mart |
| 2003-11-09 |
| 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. Well that is what you get for being ILLEGAL! Their lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Superior Court in Freehold, seeks more than $200,000 in back pay. And I thought these things only happen in California or Florida. 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." Does that include the laws against hiring ILLEGAL ALIENS in the first place? Thought not.... 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 The files and computers removed from a company’s Executive’s office notwithstanding of course.... 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. The sad thing is... they will probably win this case. 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. |
| Posted by:CrazyFool |
| #5 Unless it can be shown that Wal-Mart knowingly hired contractors they knew to have illegal aliens doing the work, this suit will fail...and Wal-Mart will not go to settlement. This has to be the most absurd piece of crap I've ever seen. The people are here illegally. Yes, they are entitled to their money...from the contractor. Then they are entitled to be booted out of the country. |
| Posted by: RMcLeod 2003-11-9 11:58:20 PM |
| #4 These bastards should be given a free ride to Douglas, AZ, then have a boot put to their asses as they are "sent home". |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-11-9 11:44:47 PM |
| #3 Wal-Mart will settle. Each of the Mexicans will get a check for $56 and the ambulance-chasers who filed the suit will get a couple mil. All in a day's work for the guardians of justice. |
| Posted by: John 2003-11-9 11:36:37 PM |
| #2 So let's see: list of complainants = list of illegal immigrants. List goes to the INS. INS pays a visit. Illegals go back to East Bum****. You mean it doesn't work like that? |
| Posted by: charlie32 2003-11-9 11:23:10 PM |
| #1 Their mouthpiece shopped around for a sympathetic judge. Wal-Mart is going to have some sizeable legal expenses in court and appeals. However, weren't these illegals hired by CONTRACTORS? In that case, the contractors would be held accountable for checking out the ID of the illegals and noting all the details on I-9s. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-11-9 10:38:01 PM |