WAL-MART'S TREATMENT OF EMPLOYEES IS UN-AMERICAN

Wal-Mart faces a massive class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of workers who accuse Walmart of locking workers in closed stores; forcing them to breathe hazardous fumes from industrial cleaners; supplying them with faulty or unsafe equipment, such as unguarded fans; and setting workweeks in excess of 40 hours without offering overtime pay." The class-action lawsuit brought in November 2003 in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in Newark seeks restitution for the workers. Though Wal-Mart filed a motion to dismiss the case in March 2004, the judge has already certified that the claimants can sue under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The judge is currently deciding whether to uphold the workers' racketeering claim against the company. Labor attorney James Linsey is confident that the racketeering claims will also stand.  "That leaves Wal-Mart in a bit of dilemma," Linsey says. "They'll be under some amount of pressure to do the right thing and settle with the people, because they don't like being called racketeers." [more] and [more]