In a lawsuit filed in a U.S. District Court in Chicago, several employees claimed that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and two of its staffing agencies failed to follow federal minimum wage as well as overtime laws.
The retail giant was slapped with the lawsuit as it demanded temporary workers to appear early for work, stay late to complete work and work through lunches and breaks without compensation.
The suit allege that the staffing agencies, Labor Ready-Midwest Inc. and QPS Employment Group Inc., failed to provide workers assigned to the Wal-Mart stores with required employment information as prescribed by the Illinois Day and Temporary Labor Services Act.
The proposed federal class action suit filed in the U.S. District Court of Illinois Eastern Division, states that Wal-Mart failed to keep an accurate record of employees' time as outlined by federal and state law.
The lawsuit alleged that the retailer firm also failed to provide them with forms verifying hours worked. Twenty-one individuals named in the suit said that the actions made it "impossible for workers to make claims that they were not paid by the temp agencies for all of the hours they worked."
In another allegation, the suit said Wal-Mart and its staffing agencies failed to pay the temporary workers a minimum of four hours' pay on days when the employees were contracted to work, but not utilized for a minimum of four hours, which prevented the workers from looking for other jobs.
