SAN JOSE, Calif. (Legal Newsline) – Cashiers unhappy they have nowhere to sit at Walmart were wrong to file a lawsuit, the company says, because the issue is being litigated elsewhere.
A class action lawsuit filed Aug. 13 in California federal court says Walmart has refused to implement a program to provide seats for cashiers, even though a federal judge required it to do so in the cashiers’ first class action.
It is in the court of that first class action where it should be determined if Walmart has breached the settlement, the company says.
“Although these same Plaintiffs have already filed a motion for an order to show cause seeking sanctions in Brown claiming that Walmart violated the Settlement Agreement in that case by failing to properly implement the ‘Seating Program’ contemplated therein, they bring this largely duplicative and procedurally improper action asserting claims for breach of contract and fraud based on the same allegations,” Walmart’s lawyers say.
The 2018 settlement, worth $65 million, drew concerns from Judge Edward Davila, who worried about the vague language of a pilot seating program. The final iteration of the settlement imposed a duty on Walmart to provide seats near checkout lines for cashiers rather than only provide them upon request, the new lawsuit says.
“Walmart, however, never intended to implement or maintain the Seating Program,” it says.
“This was intentionally concealed from the Court, Class Counsel, the Class, the LWDA, and future cashiers. No one had reason to believe that Walmart would have the brass to ignore a federal court judgment.”
Investigators for plaintiffs lawyers visited 45 Walmarts and found that only 21 of 199 traditional cashiers were seated. Of the 82 cashiers monitoring self-checkout lines, only two were seated and only eight seats were made available.
Walmart’s lawyers say the plaintiffs in the new lawsuit can’t support their claim under California’s Private Attorneys General Act.