Zavala v Wal-Mart Corporation
Wal-Mart Accused of Defrauding Immigrant Workers and Cheating Federal Government
A class action has been filed against Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and numerous janitorial services on behalf of immigrant workers who allege that the companies conspired to cheat them out of their wages and overtime pay in violation of the federal Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). The action seeks unspecified compensatory and triple punitive damages.
The action proposes to represent thousands of workers who washed and waxed floors nightly in Wal-Mart stores. Cleaners at hundreds of stores allegedly earned only $325 to $500 for working seven nights a week, usually for 56 hours or more each week.
The action was filed 18 days after federal agents raided 60 Wal-Mart stores in 21 states to round up 250 janitors characterized as illegal immigrants. In early November 2003, executives at Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, acknowledged that federal prosecutors had sent a target letter saying the company faced a grand jury investigation over the immigrants.
The action alleges that Wal-Mart and its janitorial contractors failed to make required workers' compensation and Social Security payments and failed to withhold federal payroll taxes. The companies are also accused of mail fraud, wire fraud, bringing in and harboring illegal immigrants and engaging in a pattern of racketeering activity to prevent officials from enforcing wage and immigration laws.
Named plaintiff Maximino Méndez, 19, a Mexican native who worked in a Wal-Mart in Old Bridge, New Jersey, alleges that he worked every night for eight months, earning $325 for 60-hour weeks and never received time and a half for overtime. He faces deportation after being arrested on October 23, 2003.
In naming "Wal-Mart Corporation" as a defendant, the action apparently means Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
