The New Jersey Supreme
Court has ruled that a wage and hour lawsuit against Wal-Mart involving an estimated
72,000 current and former employees can go forward as a class action. The
employees allege that managers in Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores in
forced them to work off the clock and through meal and rest breaks in an effort
to reduce operating costs. (Wal-Mart owns Sam’s Club.)
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Wal-Mart contended that
the case was not appropriate for class action treatment. But New Jersey’s high court
disagreed, noting that class actions are an important tool that permit
individuals with small claims to join together to sue a large corporation: “By
equalizing adversaries, we provide access to the courts for small claimants. By
denying shelter to an alleged wrongdoing defendant, we deter similar
transgressions against an otherwise vulnerable class. ”Wal-Mart has denied the allegations
of wage and hour violations, saying that it is company policy to pay employees
for every hour worked and managers who disregard the policy are subject to discipline,
up to and including termination.