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In a settlement reportedly filed the same day as the case, Walmart has agreed to pay up to $14 million to end claims it improperly denied paid military leave to service member employees.
In the military leave class action lawsuit, the lead plaintiff claimed Walmart refused to compensate employees who were also service members for time they needed away from work to fulfill their military obligations. The plaintiff alleged the retailer was in violation of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA).
Shortly after filing the class action lawsuit, the parties filed a joint notice that they were settling the matter. According to their motion, the plaintiff will seek the court’s preliminary approval of the proposed settlement Class Members by Jan. 15, 2021.
The motion notes the plaintiff filed the class action lawsuit “on behalf of thousands of military reservists who took short-term leave from their employment with Walmart between 2004 and 2020.” Additionally, the motion notes the class action lawsuit argued short-term military leave of 30 days or less was similar to bereavement leave or time employees took off for jury duty and that both of these types of leaves were paid by Walmart.
According to the motion, over 7,000 potential Class Members have already been identified using the retailer’s employment data.
“The Settlement is a product of arm’s length negotiations over a lengthy period of time,” the parties’ joint motion notes. “In March 2019, Plaintiff’s counsel approached Walmart about Plaintiff’s class claims, and from March 2019 through December 2020, the parties exchanged information about the claims of the proposed Settlement Class Members and Walmart’s potential liability and engaged in extensive negotiations, including with the assistance of an experienced mediator.”
According to court documents, under the terms of the proposed settlement, Walmart will pay a minimum of $10 million and a maximum of $14 million to pay Class Member claims.
For each year of leave, a Class Member will receive approximately $1,200. Each Class Member will be entitled to a part of the net settlement amount, based on the amount of short-term military leave taken by the individual Class Member making a claim.
In addition, Walmart has agreed to modify its military leave compensation policies, court documents say.
Under the new policy, which was implemented Jan. 1 of this year, Walmart employees who are also service members can take up to 30 days of fully paid leave for military obligations each year. In addition, employees who take more than 30 days of military leave can receive the difference between their pay at Walmart and their military pay if their Walmart pay is greater.
Are you a current or former Walmart employee who is also a service member? Did Walmart deny your paid military leave? Tell us your story in the comment section below.
The lead plaintiff and proposed Class Members are Nathaniel Sliver and R. Joseph Barton of Block & Leviton LLP; Michael J. Scimone of Outten & Golden LLP; Peter Romer-Friedman of Gupta Wessler PLLC; Thomas G. Jarrard of Law Office of Thomas Jarrard PLLC; and Matthew Z. Crotty of Crotty & Son Law Firm PLLC.
The Military Leave Class Action Lawsuit is Nickolas T., et al. v. Walmart Inc., Case No. 1:20-cv-12309, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Eastern Division.
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3 thoughts onWalmart Settles Military Leave Class Action Lawsuit
I actually left Walmart because of something similar. I was on military leave a lot for the National Guard Bureau throughout my 14 years of military service. At the time I worked for Walmart estimated time of 2012-2015. I wanted to move up, apply for other positions. Unfortunately, attendance for military personnel had a different way of falling off. Example- if I missed 4 days of work in 6 months and it takes 60 days perfect attendance for 1 day to drop off, then I would need to have perfect attendance for 240 days for all 4 points to drop off. Well, that wasn’t the case with me. They told me that everytime I leave on duty it freezes and picks back up where I left off. It took me longer to drop off a point them other Associates! I was upset because of one point, that should have dropped off almost a year ago at that time, I was unable to put in for a job because of this one point against me. I brought it to corporates attention, they told me it was a grey area. At some point in making waves of this treatment, I was told that I was just gone too much on military leave for any upper positions at Walmart. After trying to seek legal help, I got nowhere in finding a black or white area of this “GREY AREA”, I put in a resignation letter stating I was not given the same treatment and opportunities as other Associates to be able to grow within the company.
Nor did I ever get paid for any of my leave time. However, I was paid more through the military than Walmart. Not sure if this rant is worth anything, I have experienced discrimination for being in the service more than once by the workforce. It saddens me to see any military personnel not get support and encouragement from the employers to carry the burden of balancing 2 very different jobs. We may have signed up for it. It was our choice to enlist-because someone has to.
I was a employee of Walmart in Aiken, SC from September of 2006-February 2008 during this time period I was also a member of the national guard not once was I contacted by your firm. I did not receive pay from Walmart for my drill time I was also given a hard time from them when I put in for my one weekend a month drill and my annual training.
I have been an associate since 2008 and only received differential pay when I have gone on any type of military leave. At one point while working at a specific Sams Club as a manager the GM would change my work schedule to where in I would work the two days following drill which was my normal scheduled days off. In essence he did this to make up for the two days of work i missed due to drill.