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Walmart Military Leave Short Pay Class Action Settlement Overview:
- Who: Walmart is settling with employees who took leave for military service.
- Why: The employees or former employees had alleged that Walmart did not properly pay them while they were on military duty.
- Where: Nationwide
Walmart will pay $10 million to end a class action lawsuit by employees who say the retailer unlawfully failed to pay for short term military leave requests.
In an order filed Oct. 15, US Magistrate Judge M. Page Kelley signed off on a settlement that will cover a class of more than 7,500 members, including current and former Walmart employees, who took 30 days or less of military leave but weren’t paid their normal wages, between 2004 and the settlement date.
The Walmart military leave class action settlement was originally for $14 million, however the final amount was calculated based on the number of military reservists who came forward and how much military leave they took while they worked for Walmart, the agreement said.
The judge also trimmed the amount the lawyers for the plaintiffs would be getting, from $4.7 million to $3.6 million.
“The court credits the hard work and good results achieved by counsel but finds their suggested multiplier to be excessive here, where the case did not proceed through motion practice or trial,” the motion states.
Walmart Military Leave Class Action Settlement
The deal came out of a January settlement reportedly filed the same day as the case, in which Walmart 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 Walmart employees and retailer filed a joint notice that they were settling the matter.
The settlement 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, it 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.
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.
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 plaintiff is represented by 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 Walmart Military Leave Class Action Lawsuit Settlement 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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35 thoughts on$10M Walmart Military Leave Short Pay Class Action Settlement Gets Final Approval
Yea so they did tell me that checks were mailed out. I have not received my mine yet so I reached out to info@rg2claims.com. Told them which class act and basic info and they helped me right away. Somehow my check was lost in the sauce so they are sending out another one and they also told me the amount I would be receiving.
I received a check. I never took a leave of absence, nor was I ever in the military. I worked at Walmart for a few months. Does anyone know if non-military employees are receiving checks?
Hey y’all I finally received my check in the mail today!
Hey were you able to cash yours? I got mine it was on 7 day hold.
Yes I was able to deposit mine into the bank
I have just received a email response from them. Checks are being mailed out this week. They stated if checks aren’t recieved by the 16th of sep to reach out to them.
Nice, hope everyone gets theres soon then. We’ve definitely been waiting for awhile
I recieved mine in the mail today.
Hi Brock did you cash yours? Mine is on a 7 day hold with the bank
Found this article:
“On Aug. 5, Tsui and Walmart jointly moved to modify settlement administration procedures to allow for settlement payments to be made to confirmed class members while the parties attempt to verify whether approximately 467 “self-identified” class members who were not on the list generated from Walmart’s employment records have valid claims.”
PROPOSED MODIFICATION OF SETTLEMENT ADMINISTRATION PROCEDURES
The Court approved a settlement fund of $10 million, and the Net Settlement Amount
after fees, costs, and other payments, is $6,207,320.12. To determine each Class Member’s
payment, the Net Settlement Amount will be divided by the total number of years of military
leave (YMLs) that are claimed by class members. Of the 6,507 total YMLs that have been
claimed, 5,476 have been validated, and 1,031 are in the process of being validated.
To ensure that all potential class members who filed claims will receive the amount of
money that they are entitled to, the Parties propose the following procedures:
1. The Claims Administrator will put aside the total amount of money that would be
awarded if all of the YMLs claimed by Self-Identifiers are found to be valid. There
are a total of 6,507 potential YMLs, which results in a pro rata payment of $953.95
Case 1:20-cv-12309-MPK Document 50 Filed 08/05/22 Page 4 of 7
5
per YML. Therefore, the fund that the Claims Administrator will reserve is
$983,517.30, representing 1,031 YMLs at a rate of $953.95.
2. The Claims Administrator will distribute payment to all Settlement Class Members
with valid claims in the amount of $953.95 per YML.
3. The Parties and Claims Administrator will work to validate the remaining claims
from Self-Identifiers. This process is described above.
4. Once the Parties and Claims Administrator have determined which claims are valid,
the Settlement Administrator will distribute funds to those Self-Identifying Class
Members. The value of each YML will need to be recalculated in light of the new
total number of claims that have been approved, which will likely result in a per-
YML payment that is higher than $953.95, if some claims are not approved.
5. To the extent that there are Self-Identifiers whose claims are not approved, resulting
in a higher per-YML payment, all Settlement Class Members who submitted valid
claims that were previously paid will receive a supplemental payment equal to the
difference in value of each verified YML they have been awarded.
By updating settlement procedures in this way, the Parties seek to ensure that (1) Class
Members promptly receive the compensation to which they are entitled; and (2) all Self-
Identifiers with valid claims receive the compensation to which they are entitled. Nothing in
these proposed modified settlement administration procedures obligates Walmart to pay any
additional monies beyond those set forth in the Settlement Agreement, nor does anything in these
proposed modified settlement administration procedures change any aspects of the Settlement
Agreement other than the timing for distributing a portion of the Net Settlement Fund.
II. Current Status of Settlement Administration
During the notice period, 1,257 Previously Identified Settlement Class Members
submitted claims for a total of 5,071 YMLs. Scimone Decl. at ¶ 6. Additionally, 467 people
submitted claims under the self-identifying procedures. Of those claims, the Claims
Administrator has determined that 141 Self-Identifiers have valid claims for a total of 405
YMLs. Id. There are a remaining 326 Self-Identifiers whose claims Walmart and the Claims
Administrator are currently working on validating. This group claims a total of 1,031 YMLs. Id.
Numerous Settlement Class Members have reached out to Class Counsel regarding the
status of their settlement payments. Scimone Decl. at ¶ 8. There is no question that they are
entitled to a share of the funds, and their payments have already been delayed for months. The
Parties submit this motion to ensure that those Class Members receive their payments in a timely
manner.
You’re the MVP for this, thank you. Let’s gone it gets settled by next year.
Has anyone received a payment yet?
I’ve emailed them. They said the checks should be mailed out this summer…. what that exactly means, who knows. Just be patient. I hope everyone signed up. You had to sign up yourself.
Your awesome, I’ve been checking this since October for someone with an update. Thank you.
I’ve emailed them a few more times. Apparently there’s been a few administrative hiccups. Again, be patient. Hopefully you all actually signed up. I’ll update you when I get my check. I worked for Walmart for 13 years and I too STML every year.