Walmart

New York - Wal-Mart Stores on Tuesday said that it might appeal the decision of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which ordered the discounter to pay $188 million to settle a class-action suit over worker pay.       The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld a 2007 lower court ruling in favor of  workers  who said Wal-Mart failed to pay them for all hours worked and prevented them from taking full meal and rest breaks.   

Walmart said the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ordered it to pay about $151 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by employees who claim their meal and rest breaks were cut.

Walmart said the ruling, which it may appeal, would reduce its fourth-quarter earnings from continuing operations by about 6 cents per share.

The suit, filed in March 2002, represented about 187,000 Wal-Mart employees who worked in Pennsylvania between 1998 and 2006.

New York – Activist investor fund Starboard Value has reportedly purchased a 6% stake in Staples Inc. and upped its ownership of Office Depot from 8.6% to 10%. According to the Wall Street Journal, Starboard Value may be positioning itself to pressure the two office supply retailers to merge.  

University of Arkansas alumni Ann and Gene Bordelon have contributed $100,000 to establish the Faculty Innovation Endowed Fund for the benefit of the Sam M. Walton College of Business.

The globalization of Walmart’s domestic operations continued this week with the appointment of Judith McKenna to the role of chief operating office for Walmart U.S.

Walmart’s integrity suffered a blow this week in a Bloomberg piece with the inflammatory headline, “How Walmart made its crumbling China business look so good for so long.”

New York - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has reportedly discovered discrepancies in accounting practices its China business was using that made performance look better than it really was. According to Bloomberg, shifty accounting practices included making unauthorized bulk sales to other retailers and even booking non-existent sales. 

Timing is everything. The Bentonville Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce had already secured Judith McKenna as a speaker for an upcoming event when she was given a major promotion this week.