Legislative, Regulatory & Legal

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) reportedly wants to expand a pilot of a grocery delivery service it has been testing with Amazon.com in the San Francisco area. According to the Wall Street Journal, the USPS has applied to run a two-year test of the service.

The spiffy new look Walmart store associates are sporting these days is drawing complaints from some quarters who think the company went too far in striving for a modest degree of uniformity in the appearance of employees.

Apparently, it is now too much for Walmart to require employees to dress a certain way while they are at work with the dispute centering on what constitute a uniform versus a dress code and whether Walmart should pay for the clothes employees wear to work.

Chicago -- The strategic merits of Burger King Worldwide's leveraged buy-out of Tim Hortons Inc. will be tested by Monday's enactment of tightened U.S. Treasury tax rules on U.S. companies seeking to re-domicile their headquarters in countries with more favorable tax systems, according to Fitch Ratings. The new regulation is meant to reduce the attractiveness of inversions and is effective immediately.

Fort Worth, Texas – RadioShack Corp. has reportedly so far been unsuccessful in its efforts to convince an unidentified ‘major vendor’ to modify a commercial agreement in a way that could benefit a financial restructuring. According to the Wall Street Journal, RadioShack still has not identified the vendor or exactly what terms it wants to restructure, but has been negotiating with wireless carriers including AT&T and Sprint to ease the terms under which the retailer is allowed to resell equipment.

New York -- British supermarket retailer Tesco suspended four executives, including its U.K. managing director, after revealing that its half-year profit was overstated by $407 million, the BBC reported. The retailer has launched an investigation headed by Deloitte.

Tesco CEO Dave Lewis, who took over the struggling company in September, said the decision to ask employees to stand aside was not an indication of guilt or that disciplinary action was warranted. He declined to speculate on what the investigation might turn up.

Fort Worth, Texas – A class-action settlement RadioShack Corp. reached with consumers that offered them $10 vouchers as compensation for printing their credit and debit card expiration dates on receipts has reportedly been overturned by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. According to Reuters, a panel of three federal judges said the total $1 million settlement is too small considering the amount of legal fees that must be paid.

Pleasanton, Calif. – Safeway Inc. is offering to pay cash consent fees to holders of three series of senior notes due in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Note holders who accept the fees would release Safeway of the obligation to repurchase the notes at 1% interest when its expected fourth quarter merger with Albertson’s LLC occurs.

Fort Worth, Texas – Beleaguered consumer electronics chain RadioShack Corp. says it is in talks with an unidentified “major vendor” about modifying a commercial agreement in a way that could benefit a financial restructuring. RadioShack announced the ongoing discussions in a Sept. 22 regulatory filing.

Boise, Idaho - Albertsons and Safeway Inc. announced the new senior leadership team and division leaders  for the combined company that will take effect upon the closing of their proposed merger. The deal is expected to close in a few months.

Safeway president and CEO Robert Edwards will serve as CEO of the combined company and current Albertsons CEO Bob Miller will become executive chairman.

The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) has appointed Sue Pifer as VP of compliance and Tiffin Shewmake as the director of the Center for Retail Compliance (CRC).

“The experience and skills that Sue and Tiffin possess make them uniquely suited for delivering exceptional value to our member companies on a broad range of compliance issues. We are excited to have them join the RILA team,” said RILA president Sandy Kennedy.