labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Wal-Mart computed overtime pay for workers in Alabama and throughout the U.S. in a way that underpaid them, and did not comply with federal and Alabama overtime laws. That’s according to the U.S. Department of Labor, in its announcement that Wal-Mart has agreed to pay more than $33 million in back wages to 86,680 workers nationwide.

“This settlement provides $33 million in back wages, plus interest, to Wal-Mart Workers,” said Victoria A. Lipnic, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment Standards. She said the company has taken action “to prevent this from happening again.” The agreement covers the period between February 1, 2002, and January 19, 2007.

The Labor Department also obtained a consent judgment from U.S. District Court. In the complaint with that court against Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., the Labor Department alleged that the retailer violated the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA as well as state minimum wage laws. The court issued a consent judgment ordering Wal-Mart to make the back payments and ordered it to abstain from any future violations. The agreement has Wal-Mart paying all back wages for the violations, plus interest on the amount as a deterrent.

Under the FLSA, employees must be paid at what is popularly called “time-and-a-half,” or 1.5 time their usual rate, for any time over 40 hours a week. At issue was not whether Wal-Mart paid overtime. It did. The question revolved around what the retailer used to calculate that overtime. Employees’ pay, before incentives and premiums, is called the “base rate.” With premiums and incentives it is called the “average hourly compensation.”

For example, an employee’s “base rate” may be $6 an hour, while his or her “average hourly compensation,” with those incentives and premiums, may be $7 an hour. The law says overtime must be calculated by using the “average hourly compensation,” or, in this example, $7 an hour. Wal-Mart was using the “base rate,” which in this example would have been $6 an hour. 

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