Walmart sees light, settles overtime pay lawsuit
Walmart has agreed to pay $4.8 million to settle U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) charges that it misclassified employees working at vision centers in the retail giant’s stores. Walmart had labeled them managers exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and refused to pay them overtime when they worked more than 40 hours in a week.
In addition to paying back overtime to 4,500 employees, Walmart must pay $463,815 in civil penalties for what the DOL called repeated FLSA violations.
Note: Just calling employees “managers” doesn’t make them exempt under the FLSA. If your organization’s managers perform many of the same tasks other employees do, have your attorney review your exempt/nonexempt classifications to ensure they comply with the FLSA.
