Legislative, Regulatory & Legal

WASHINGTON - The National Retail Federation announced that it has urged the Senate to support legislation extending Bush era tax cuts that is scheduled for a procedural vote today, saying the measure would help preserve and create jobs.

Victoria, Texas -- Lack Properties and Lack’s Stores said Thursday it has hired Melville, N.Y.-based DJM Realty, a Gordon Bros. Group company, to manage the disposition of all leased and owned retailer and warehouse facilities throughout Texas.

Lack’s is an independently owned retail home furnishings chain operating as Lack’s and Lacks Home Furnishings.

New York City -- Wal-Mart Stores will stop paying an additional $1 an hour for working Sundays, taking a bite out of its single biggest expense, Bloomberg reported. The change will take effect at Walmart stores, Sam’s Club outlets and warehouses.

The move, which takes effect next year, applies only to associates hired after Jan. 1, the report said. It wouldn’t affect the retailer’s current U.S. staff, which numbers approximately 1.4 million.

Washington, D.C. -- The National Retail Federation has announced its support of a tentative bipartisan agreement that would temporarily extend Bush-era tax cuts for all taxpayers regardless of income in return for extending unemployment benefits.

Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether to certify the largest class-action employment discrimination lawsuit in U.S. history, a long-standing dispute involving Wal-Mart Stores and alleged gender bias in pay and promotions.

New York City -- Activist investor Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management raised its stake in Borders Group from 31.5% to 37.3% and is prepared to finance an offer by Borders to buy larger rival Barnes & Noble, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday.

According to the statement, Ackman is prepared to finance an offer by Borders to buy all of Barnes & Noble’s stock in an all-cash transaction valued at $16 per share, which would amount to about $960 million, based on the shares outstanding.

New York City -- Wal-Mart Stores has filed suit against CVS Caremark Corp. to prevent CVS from hiring former Wal-Mart executive Hank Mullany, according to a Friday report by Bloomberg.

CVS’s hiring of Mullany, former president of Wal-Mart’s northern U.S. division, would violate a noncompete agreement, Wal-Mart said in the complaint filed Thursday in Delaware Chancery Court.

According to Wal-Mart’s complaint, CVS has indicated that it intends to hire Mullany without regard to the agreement.

Tokyo - A report released Tuesday said that Japanese prosecutors will launch an investigation into possible insider trading involving shares of Wal-Mart's Japanese subsidiary Seiyu.

According to Reuters, which cited the Nikkei business daily website, the trading is suspected to have occurred when Wal-Mart turned Seiyu into a fully owned unit in 2007.

In early November, Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission began an investigation into possible insider trading. Wal-Mart has said it would cooperate with authorities.