LOS ANGELES — Former Walmart workers in California recently opened their mail to find checks from settlement of a class-action lawsuit that had charged the retail giant with inaccurately reporting workers’ wages between 2016 and 2021.
“In August, I received an unsolicited check for $172.93 as a part of the settlement against Walmart for ‘wage theft.’ I worked at Walmart for five years, always with an eye toward union organizing and advancing solidarity with other workers,” Bernie Senter wrote. “No surprise that the company inaccurately reported wages. I gladly turned the money over to the Socialist Workers Party to advance our political and union-building work.”
Senter was one of nine former workers now living in Los Angeles, Oakland, and Fort Worth, Texas, who sent checks from the settlement to the SWP. As of Sept. 24, $1,481 has been received.
The suit charged that Walmart failed to include any ”bonuses” in calculating hourly and overtime wages, failed to transparently report how hourly wages and vacation pay were calculated and failed to pay all final wages on time.