Legislative, Regulatory & Legal

Fast-growing flooring retailer Lumber Liquidators got an unpleasant surprise on Thursday when representatives from several federal agencies showed up at the company’s Toano, Va., headquarter with search warrants in hand.

New York -- Governor Jerry Brown of California on Wednesday signed a bill approving a $2 hike in the state’s minimum wage, with the increase to be rolled out during the next three years. The increase will make California's minimum wage the highest in the country.

The wage increase will go into effect in two separate $1 increments, going from the current minimum of $8 to $9 on July 1, 2014, and then to $10, on January 1, 2016.

East Pennsboro Township, Pa. – Rite Aid has reportedly been ordered to pay $12.3 million in a civil lawsuit accusing the retailer of illegally dumping hazardous waste from more than 600 stores in California. According to the Los Angeles Times, San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Linda L. Lofthus handed down the ruling in a suit brought against Rite Aid by the district attorneys of San Joaquin, Los Angeles and Riverside counties.

Bentonville, Ark. – A regional class-action gender bias suit filed against Wal-Mart Stores in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida has reportedly been dismissed. According to Bloomberg, U.S, District Court Judge Robert N. Scola ruled that plaintiffs in the case had missed time limitations to file claims and that their claims were previously rejected in another gender bias case.

Atlanta – The Home Depot, Inc. is reportedly going to stop providing health care benefits to part-time employees working less than 30 hours per week. According to Bloomberg, starting next month the retailer will send about 20,000 part-time employees to purchase their own insurance on government-sponsored healthcare exchanges that will be created under the guidelines of the Affordable Care Act.

Washington, D.C. -- The D.C. Council failed on Tuesday to overturn Mayor Vincent Gray’s veto of the proposed “living wage” bill. According to Washington Business Journal, only seven of the required nine district councilors voted to override Gray’s veto of the Large Retailer Accountability Act.

National Retail Federation (NRF) senior VP for government relations David French issued the following statement:

Seattle -- Starbucks Corporation is requesting that customers no longer bring guns onto its property, either inside or outside its stores — even in states where “open carry” laws permit them to do so — with the exclusion of law enforcement personnel.

Company founder, chairman and CEO Howard Schultz made the request in an open letter posted under his name on the Starbucks website. The company plans to buy ad space in major national newspapers to run the letter.

Ottawa, Ontario -- The Canadian government is reportedly seeking to boost penalties for retailers caught using “zapper” software that can delete or modify transactional data in electronic POS systems to illegally hide sales.