The opposite of Fair Labor Standards is Unfair Labor Standards. A federal court in Denver, CO has decided that Wal-Mart violated the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act by not paying its pharmacists overtime pay. The Court ordered Wal-Mart to pay its employees back wages. As reported in the Wall Street Journal this week, Wal-Mart says it will appeal the court’s decision, forcing its employees to continue the legal battle. “We’re confident that we have been very fair in the treatment of our professional pharmacists and have been fully compliant,” etc. etc. said Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. But the U.S. District Court disagreed with Wal-Mart, and said the company had underpaid its pharmacists for two years. How much the court will ask Wal-Mart to pay in lost wages or damages has not yet been decided. The CBS Market Watch headline simply reads: “Court Says Wal-Mart Broke Labor Laws.”
These pharmacists sent out an urgent email message at least a year ago saying that they were soon going to be thrust into the limelight for challenging their employer, and that they needed help and support to pursue their case against Wal-Mart. Their class action suit has finally brought them some results, but the battle continues to another day. Several years ago a group of Arkansas pharmacists accused Wal-Mart of predatory pricing, and although a lower court ruled in their favor, the case was ultimately thrown out at a higher level.
