Wal-Martization of Safety Standards

Wal-Mart puts children at risk when teenage workers operate such dangerous equipment as cardboard balers. Maiming, amputations and death are not uncommon occurences for workers operating this equipment.

Child Labor Violations
After five years of investigations, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) found that Wal-Mart violated child labor laws in which 85 minors operated hazardous equipment at stores in three states. Though the law prohibits it, Wal-Mart had its young employees operating equipment such as carboard balers and chainsaws--the most dangerous pieces of machinery in the industry.

Instead of holding the world's largest and richest corporation accountable for putting children at risk, the DOL agreed to a deal in February 2005 that:

Requires Wal-Mart to pay a nominal federal fine of $135,540
Gives the company 15 days' notice before conducting any further investigation of violations

Besides the small fine, the 15-day advance notice of DOL inspections actually rewards Wal-Mart, while other companies with no history of child labor violations are subject to unannounced inspections.

Concealing Accidents
Wal-Mart has been sued numerous times on the grounds that injuries or deaths could have been prevented if Wal-Mart didn’t conceal documents regarding previous accidents. Bernadine Davis filed one of these lawsuits over the death of her husband, who was killed 10 years ago in a loading-dock accident at a Sam’s Club. She was awarded $2 million, on the grounds that the company concealed an internal memo regarding previous dock accidents.

Illegally Selling Toy Guns
June 6, 2003--After nearly two years of negotiations with the State of New York, Wal-Mart agreed to settle and pay a $200,000 fine and stop selling realistic-looking toy guns in its New York locations. Wal-Mart agreed to a court order barring the company from selling toy guns in realistic colors and those that fail to provide a non-removable orange stripe along the length of the barrel. New York's law goes one step beyond U.S. federal law, which requires the orange marking only at the nose of the toy gun.

In 1996, Wal-Mart refused to sell an album from Sheryl Crow because it contained a lyric talking about children buying guns at Wal-Mart.
Since 1997 at least four people -- two teens and two adults -- brandishing gun look-alikes have been fatally shot by police in New York when officers believed they were holding actual guns. Another teen was seriously wounded in a similar incident.
According to the New York Attorney General’s office, Wal-Mart has sold more than 42,000 toy guns in the state during the past two and a half years.

State Firearm Violations
In April 2003, Wal-Mart suspended sales of real guns in its 118 California stores after an investigation by that state's attorney general found hundreds of violations of state firearms laws. In addition to being the world's largest general merchandise chain, Wal-Mart is the biggest seller of toys and real firearms.

Failing to Report Hazards
Wal-Mart agreed to pay $750,000 to resolve charges filed in May 2001 that it failed to report hazards with Weider and Weslo brand exercise gliders, despite knowing of at least 29 consumers injured while trying out the gliders in Wal-Mart stores across the country. "We acknowledged no wrongdoing," said a Wal-Mart spokesperson. "We believe we acted responsibly in this case."

Refusing to Pay Compensation
In October 1993, Candace Hoke of Hempstead, Tex., dashed into her local Wal-Mart, picked up a bag of puppy food and headed for the checkout. Along the way, a couple of 25-pound boxes of bathroom tissue fell on her head. An employee who was stocking shelves dropped them, she contends. Eight years after the accident, and seven years after she filed her lawsuit, and three years after she won her case, Hoke is still trying to collect the $250,000 a jury awarded her as compensation for neck injuries.

Wal-Mart on Workers Compensation
Clint Lowe, a Tennessee Wal-Mart employee, suffered a lower back injury on the job in 1988. He and Wal-Mart agreed on a 53% disability settlement. He eventually returned to work, and in May 1997 was struck on his head by a large flowerpot that also knocked him off a ladder. This time, he was awarded benefits for 50% permanent partial disability, 90 weeks of temporary total disability, and all medical expenses. Wal-Mart gave him a list of doctors he could see. After three of the recommended doctors proved unsatisfactory, he asked Wal-Mart for a new list of doctors. They said he had seen all the doctors they were going to let him see. Then, he went to the doctor he saw in 1988, who referred Lowe to an orthopedic surgeon. After an appeal for non-payment, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled in his favor, stating that Lowe was justified in seeking additional medical services. (Supreme Court of Tennessee, Special Workers Compensation Appeals Panel, Case No. 2002WL229508-Tenn. Sp.Workers Com. 2/15/02)