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Violation Tracker Individual Record

Company: Wal-Mart Stores
Current Parent Company: Walmart
Penalty: $242,000,000
Year: 2016
Date: June 15, 2016
Offense Group: employment-related offenses
Primary Offense: wage and hour violation
Mega-Scandal: Wage Theft
Violation Description: meal/rest break violation
Level of Government: state
Action Type: private litigation
Court: Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas
Civil or Criminal Case: civil
Case ID: No. 3127
Case Name: Braun/Hummel v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Private Lawsuit Resolution Type: verdict
Facility State: Pennsylvania
HQ Country of Current Parent: USA
HQ State of Current Parent: Arkansas
Ownership Structure of Current Parent: publicly traded
Major Industry of Current Parent: retailing
Specific Industry of Current Parent: retail-discount stores
Source of Data: The announcement by the company that it made the payment came on page 15 of its 10-Q filing to the SEC for the quarter ending July 31, 2016; online at (click here)
Notes: Case focused on allegations that the company required employees to work off the clock and prevented them from taking meal breaks. The original jury award of $78 million occurred in 2006. The following year, the judge added $62 million in liquidated damages. Wal-Mart appealed all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court (which declined to hear the case). In 2016 it finally paid the plaintiffs $242 million, which included post-judgment interest.
Source Notes: If an online information source is not working, check the Violation Tracker Data Sources page for an updated link.
Current parent company note: Parent-subsidiary relationship is current as of the most recent revision listed in the Update Log.