Timeline of Suits Against Wal-Mart

As the nation's top retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is no stranger to the court of public lawsuits. According to Fortune magazine, the company was sued 6,087 times alone in 2002. Wal-Mart now ranks behind the federal government as the most-sued entity in the country.

The organization's legal familiarity reached a pinnacle on Tuesday when a California federal judge allowed an enormous gender discrimination suit to proceed against the company, the largest class-action case against a private employer in history. The suit includes some 1.6 million employees.

"This is by far the one they've paid the most attention to," says Maria Halkias, retail reporter for The Dallas Morning News. "Practices that discriminate against half of the population are ones that can change their internal culture."

It is estimated that Wal-Mart is sued 13 times each day. With 10,000 suits pending against the retail giant at any one time, there have been some notable cases levied against the company. Among the recent developments:

• On June 25, 2004, Wal-Mart agreed to pay $2.8 million to settle allegations of false or partially-dispensed prescriptions by some of its pharmacies to counter against insufficient stock.
• Last December, a federal grand jury found in favor of hundreds of Oregon employees who worked unpaid overtime for the retailer. A similar suit has been served in Washington state; others have been defeated in Texas, Louisiana and Ohio.
• In November of 2003, the company was accused of discrimination in the compensation of nine undocumented immigrant workers.
• In April of 2003, Wal-Mart agreed to pay $750,000 to resolve a government lawsuit that alleged the company failed to report safety hazards.
• A June 2001 lawsuit filed in San Francisco claimed Wal-Mart discriminated against women in promotions, training and pay.
• In May of 2001, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a suit against Wal-Mart alleging racial discrimination hiring practices.

In addition, judges have assessed the company with 75 violations in one six-year period, according to a report from Clevescene.com. Those violations included sanctions for destroying, altering and hiding evidence, resulting in millions in dollars in court fines. That report indicates this number of violations represents more than all other Fortune 500 companies combined.

Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism