Wal-Mart Massachusetts to Pay Workers $40 Million

Wal-Mart Massachusetts has settled to pay its workers more than $40 million after being accused of denying employees rests and meal breaks.

The lawyers of the complainants said that it was the largest class action suit filed against Wal-Mart and the largest of its kind in the history of the state.

The largest retail store chain in the US, Wal-Mart Stores Inc, has agreed to pay some $40 million to more than 87, 500 workers in Massachusetts. Workers accused the retail giant of denying them meal breaks and rest, as well as, manipulated their time cards and refused to pay overtimes.

Based on the obtained documents, Wal-Mart has agreed to end more than eight years of court battle with the employees, which is considered as one of the biggest class action lawsuit in the state.

“It was the largest settlement case in the history of Wal-Mart and Massachusetts regarding the wage and hour class action. It has dwarf any settlement cases that is similar in Wal-Mart Stores across the US,” Philip Gordon said.

The decision to pay $40 million came less than three months after Wal-Mart agreed with state prosecutors to pay $3 million in order for the employees to drop the case regarding the denial of meal breaks.

The affidavit was filed by Gordon, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, on Wednesday. He said that employees who worked for the company between 1995 and 2009 will receive payments of $400 to $2, 500 depending in their years of service.

The larger settlement payment came after the court rejected earlier proposals by Wal-Mart last June and July. Gordon, along with other attorney of the plaintiffs, objected with the proposal, saying that Wal-Mart has negotiated for the amount without the consent of the representatives of the class action suit.

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