Last month, we learned that Wal-Mart had been violating child labor laws in several states. As part of a deal with Bush’s Labor Department, the corporate behemoth paid a modest fine (about $136,000), but reached an agreement whereby Wal-Mart would get 15 days notice before Bush’s Labor Department investigates any other “wage and hour” accusations, like failure to pay minimum wage or overtime. The whole thing had “sweetheart deal” written all over it.
Then, this month, it’s more of the same.
Federal prosecutors and immigration officials announced yesterday that Wal-Mart Stores had agreed to pay a record $11 million to settle accusations that it used hundreds of illegal immigrants to clean its stores.
[…]
The settlement grew out of enforcement actions in which 100 janitors who were illegal immigrants were arrested in 2001 at Wal-Mart stores in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri and New York, and an additional 245 were arrested in October 2003 at 60 stores in 21 states. Soon after, Wal-Mart acknowledged receiving a letter saying it was the subject of a federal grand jury investigation in Pennsylvania.
I realize that an $11 million punishment sounds like a lot, but remember, we’re dealing with a company that had $288.2 billion in sales last year. What kind of deterrent does Wal-Mart have not to exploit immigrants when its penalty is a small drop in its very large bucket?
Indeed, considering the circumstances, the penalty could have been far more severe
…Lilia Garcia, executive director of the Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund, a group that monitors conditions for janitors, said the settlement was inadequate. “The $11 million really isn’t that much when you consider this was going on in 21 states,” Ms. Garcia said. “It was a real pattern and practice.”
The Bush administration may not be inclined to severely punish Wal-Mart for these transgressions, but the company isn’t off the hook entirely. There’s still a federal class-action lawsuit in New Jersey on Wal-Mart and its contractors conspiring to violate racketeering laws.