Criticism of Walmart

File:Wal-Mart in Madison Heights.jpg

A Walmart Supercenter in Madison Heights, Virginia (2005)

The American multinational retail chain Walmart has received criticism from parties such as labor unions and small town advocates for its policies and business practices.

Criticisms include charges of racial and gender discrimination,<ref name="mkabel">Kabel, Marcus. "Walmart, Critics Slam Each Other on Web". The Washington Post. July 18, 2006. Retrieved on July 31, 2006.</ref><ref>Sellers, Jeff M. (April 22, 2005). "Women Against Walmart". Christianity Today. Retrieved July 31, 2006.</ref><ref>Sellers, Jeff M. (April 22, 2005). "Deliver Us from Wal-Mart?". Christianity Today. Retrieved on July 31, 2006.</ref> foreign product sourcing, anticompetitive practices, treatment of product suppliers, environmental practices,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the use of public subsidies, and its surveillance of its employees.<ref>Norman, Al (2004). "The Case Against Wal-Mart". Raphel Marketing, p. 7. Template:ISBN.</ref> The company has denied any wrongdoing and said that low prices are the result of efficiency.<ref>Copeland, Larry. (March 13, 2006). "Wal-Mart's hired advocate takes flak". USA Today. Retrieved on July 31, 2006.</ref><ref>Rodino Associates. (October 28, 2003). "Final Report on Research for Big Box Retail/Superstore Ordinance". Template:Webarchive Los Angeles City Council. Retrieved on July 31, 2006.</ref><ref>Smith, Hedrick. "Who Calls the Shots in the Global Economy?" PBS. Retrieved on July 31, 2006.</ref>

In 2005, labor unions created new organizations and websites to criticize the company, including Wake Up Walmart (United Food and Commercial Workers) and Walmart Watch (Service Employees International Union). By the end of 2005, Walmart had launched Working Families for Walmart to counter those groups. Efforts to counter criticism include a public relations campaign in this same year,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> which included several television commercials. The company retained the public relations firm Edelman to interact with the press and respond to negative media reports,<ref name="newweapon">Barnaro, Michael. (November 1, 2005). "A New Weapon for Wal-Mart: A War Room". The New York Times. Retrieved on August 1, 2006.</ref> and has started working with bloggers by sending them news, suggesting topics for postings, and inviting them to visit Walmart's corporate headquarters.<ref name="bloggerPR">Barbaro, Michael. (March 7, 2006). "Wal-Mart Enlists Bloggers in P.R. Campaign". The New York Times. Retrieved on August 1, 2006.</ref> In November 2005, a documentary film critical of Walmart (Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price) was released on DVD.

Critics say that Walmart's lower prices draw customers away from smaller Main Street businesses, hurting local small town communities, and that the company hurts the United States economy by relying excessively on Chinese-produced products – Walmart is the largest importer in the United States in many categories, such as electronics and fast-moving consumer goods.<ref>Boaz, David. (November 8, 1996). "Chrysler, Microsoft, and Industrial Policy". Template:Webarchive Cato Institute. Retrieved on August 17, 2006.</ref><ref>Bandow, Doug. (March 26, 1997). "Can 'Unbridled Capitalism' Be Tamed? Template:Webarchive" Cato Institute. Retrieved on August 17, 2006.</ref> The 2006 book The Walmart Effect by business journalist Charles Fishman contains much of the criticism, though it also enumerates Walmart's positive impacts within society.

Local communities

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Walmart opened its Teotihuacan Superstore near the Pyramid of the Moon amid community protests.

When Walmart plans a new store location, as often as not the company has to fight its way into town in the municipal equivalent of civil war between pro- and anti-Walmart factions.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Opponents cite concerns such as traffic congestion, environmental problems, public safety, absentee landlordism, bad public relations, low wages and benefits, and predatory pricing.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="wm_vs_ad">Template:Cite court</ref><ref name="The Hometown Advantage">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="German High Court">Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Excessive citations inline Opposition by activists, competitors, local citizens, labor unions, and religious groups may include protest marches,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> property damage to store buildings, or by creating bomb scares.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Some city councils have denied permits to developers planning to include a Walmart in their project. Those who defend Walmart cite consumer choice and overall benefits to the economy, and object to bringing the issue into the political arena.<ref name="sobel_dean">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1998, Walmart proposed construction of a store west of the intersection of Charlotte Pike (U.S. Route 70) and Interstate 40 outside Nashville, Tennessee. The building site was home to both Native American burial grounds and a Civil War battlefield. Protests were mounted by Native Americans and Civil War interest groups, but the Walmart store was eventually constructed after moving graves and some modifications of the site so as not to interfere with the battlefield.<ref name="NAC">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Civil War relics were discovered at the site. The project developers donated land to permit access to the Civil War historic site.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Dead link</ref> The Native sites were removed and re-buried elsewhere.<ref name="NAC" />

A Walmart superstore opened in 2004 in Mexico, Template:Convert from the historic Teotihuacan archaeological site and Pyramid of the Moon.<ref name="Walmart_pyramid">Template:Cite news</ref> Although the location was supported by Mexico's National Anthropology Institute, the United Nations, and the Paris-based International Council on Monuments and Sites,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> there had been protests organized by local merchants, as well as environmental groups and anti-globalization groups who opposed the construction.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Poet Homero Aridjis called the opening as "supremely symbolic" and "like planting the staff of globalization in the heart of ancient Mexico".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Archaeologists oversaw construction and discovered a small clay and stone altar along with some other artifacts where the store's parking lot is now located.<ref name="Walmart_pyramid" />

In 2005, developers demolished the long-closed Dixmont State Hospital in Kilbuck Township, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, with plans to build a shopping complex anchored by a Walmart. While there were initially no general objections to the Walmart store itself, many residents did not want to see Dixmont demolished, despite the fact that the Dixmont complex, having been abandoned in 1984, was beyond maintainable condition and teenagers were dangerously trespassing onto the property on a regular basis.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> However, while the land was being excavated (after the hospital complex was torn down) in order to create a plateau for the store to be built upon, a landslide occurred covering Pennsylvania Route 65 and the Fort Wayne Line railroad tracks between PA 65 and the Ohio River. Both routes were shut down for weeks. While Walmart did "stabilize" the landslide, many residents said that Walmart merely stabilized the hillside so that it could continue with work to build the store.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Ultimately, in 2007 Walmart decided against developing the site, allowing the land to return to nature,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> with a Walmart location to be constructed in nearby Economy, Pennsylvania, instead behind the Northern Lights Shopping Center. After some opposition from the local Giant Eagle location at the plaza, the Walmart location opened in 2014.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In the 2010s, a proposal to build the Midtown Walmart supercenter in Midtown Miami was met with litigation and opposition from local businesses, delaying construction of the project. A Florida Third District Court of Appeal panel of judges denied the opposition's challenge of the city's approvals and Walmart broke ground on the development in January 2016.<ref name="Smiley 16">Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2014, researchers at the University of South Carolina and Sam Houston State University published a study on whether Walmart affected local crime rates. In the 1990s, crime rates were in fact decreasing throughout most of the United States. The study found that this decrease was "nowhere near" as impressive in most communities that had a Walmart store, as if the presence of the large retailer was somehow stunting the decrease. The authors acknowledged the cause-and-effect arrow may go in the opposite direction. For example, one co-author stated, "Counties with more social capital – citizens able and willing to speak up about the best interests of the community – tend to have lower crime rates. Counties with more crime may have less social capital and, therefore, less ability to prevent Wal-Mart from building."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Allegations of predatory pricing and supplier issues

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Heavily discounted products

Walmart has been accused of selling merchandise at such low costs that competitors have tried to sue for predatory pricing (intentionally selling a product at low cost in order to drive competitors out of the market). In 1995, in the case of Walmart Stores, Inc. v. American Drugs, Inc., pharmacy retailer American Drugs accused Walmart of selling items at too low a cost for the purpose of injuring competitors and destroying competition. The Supreme Court of Arkansas ruled in favor of Walmart saying that its pricing, including the use of loss leaders, was not predatory pricing.<ref name="wm_vs_ad" /> In 2000, the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection accused Walmart of selling butter, milk, laundry detergent, and other staple goods at low cost, with the intention of forcing competitors out of business and gaining a monopoly in local markets.<ref name="The Hometown Advantage" /> The case was settled out of court.<ref name="Mitchell 01">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Crest Foods filed a similar lawsuit in Oklahoma, accusing Walmart of predatory pricing on several of its products, in an effort to drive Crest Foods's own company-owned store in Edmond, Oklahoma, out of business.<ref>Staff Writer. (September 28, 2000). "Crest Foods sues Walmart claiming predatory pricing". The Oklahoma City Journal Record. Retrieved on August 4, 2006.</ref>

In 2003, Mexico's antitrust agency, the Federal Competition Commission, investigated Walmart for "monopolistic practices" prompted by charges that the retailer pressured suppliers to sell goods below cost or at prices significantly less than those available to other stores. Mexican authorities found no wrongdoing on the part of Walmart.<ref>Staff Writer. (August 1, 2002). "Mexico Investigates Walmart for Antitrust Violations". Template:Webarchive The Hometown Advantage. Retrieved on August 4, 2006.</ref> However, in 2003, Germany's High Court ruled that Walmart's low cost pricing strategy "undermined competition" and ordered Walmart and two other supermarkets to raise their prices. Walmart won appeal of the ruling, then the German Supreme Court overturned the appeal.<ref name="German High Court" /> Walmart has since sold its stores in Germany.<ref name="AP 06">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Walmart has been accused of using monopoly power to force its suppliers into self-defeating practices. In 2006, Barry C. Lynn, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation (a think tank), said that Walmart's constant demand for lower prices caused Kraft Foods to "shut down thirty-nine plants, to let go [of] 13,500 workers, and to eliminate a quarter of its products."<ref name="Lynn, BC"/> Kraft was unable to compete with other suppliers and said the cost of production had gone up due to higher energy and raw material costs. Lynn said that in a free market, Kraft could have passed those costs on to its distributors and ultimately consumers.<ref name="Lynn, BC">Template:Cite magazine</ref> As another example in 2006, most Walmart store pharmacies filled many generic prescriptions for $4 for a month's supply. However, in California and ten other states, complaints from other pharmacies resulted in Walmart being required to charge at least $9 for a month's supply of certain drugs.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In May 2010, Walmart's United States stores pulled the Chinese-made Miley Cyrus line of necklaces and bracelets after an Associated Press release that the jewelry contained harmful amounts of the toxic metal cadmium. Cadmium in jewelry is not known to be dangerous if the items are simply worn, but concerns come when a child bites or sucks on the jewelry, as children are apt to do.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Walmart said that while the jewelry is not intended for children, "it is possible that a few younger consumers may seek it out in stores. We are removing all of the jewelry from sale while we investigate its compliance with our children's jewelry standard", Walmart said.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Labor relations

File:Wal-Mart Workers and Wal-Mart-Free NYC at Occupy Wall Street.vorb.oga

Workers speak during Occupy Wall Street.

With over 2.2 million employees worldwide, Walmart has faced a torrent of lawsuits and issues with regards to its workforce. These issues involve low wages, poor working conditions, inadequate health care, as well as issues involving the company's strong anti-union policies. In November 2013, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced that it had found that in 13Template:NbspU.S. states Walmart had pressured employees not to engage in strikes on Black Friday, and had illegally disciplined workers who had engaged in strikes.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Critics point to Walmart's high turnover rate as evidence of an unhappy workforce, although other factors may be involved. Approximately 70Template:Nbsppercent of its employees leave within the first year.<ref name="Store Wars">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Despite this turnover rate, the company is still able to affect unemployment rates. This was found in a study by Oklahoma State University which states, "Walmart is found to have substantially lowered the relative unemployment rates of blacks in those counties where it is present, but to have had only a limited impact on relative incomes after the influences of other socio-economic variables were taken into account."<ref>Keil, Stanley R., Spector, Lee C. The Impact of Walmart on Income and Unemployment Differentials in Alabama. Review of Regional Studies; Winter 2005, Vol. 35 Issue 3, p336-355, 20p.</ref>

Wages

Walmart reports that in 2006 its workers earned an average of $10.11 per hour. Human Rights Watch estimates that this is below the average of $10.24 earned by workers at discount department stores, $10.55 at warehouse clubs and supercenters, and $11.12 at grocery stores.<ref>Template:Google books</ref> Walmart managers are judged, in part, based on their ability to control payroll costs.<ref name="Computerworld 03">Template:Cite news</ref> The Wall Street Journal says this puts extra pressure on higher-paid workers to be more productive.<ref name="payrollcosts">Tejada, Carlos; Gary McWilliams. (June 26, 2003). "Well-Paid Professionals Draw Unwelcome Attention". The Wall Street Journal (Career Journal). Retrieved on February 24, 2007.</ref> Walmart insists its wages are generally in line with the current local market in retail labor.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Other critics have noted that in 2001, the average wage for a Walmart Sales Clerk was $8.23 per hour, or $13,861 a year, while the federal poverty line for a family of three was $14,630.<ref name="IsWalMartTooPowerful">Bianco, Anthony; Zellner, Wendy. "Is Walmart Too Powerful? Template:Webarchive" BusinessWeek. October 6, 2003. Retrieved on September 29, 2007.</ref> Walmart founder Sam Walton once said, "I pay low wages. I can take advantage of that. We're going to be successful, but the basis is a very low-wage, low-benefit model of employment."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In August 2006, Walmart announced that it would roll out an average pay increase of 6% for all new hires at 1,200 United States Walmart and Sam's Club locations, but at the same time would institute pay caps on veteran workers.<ref name="payincrease">Staff Writer. (August 7, 2006). "Walmart increases starting pay, adds wage caps". USA Today. Retrieved on March 2, 2007.</ref> While Walmart maintains that the measures are necessary to stay competitive, critics believe that the salary caps are primarily an effort to push higher-paid veteran workers out of the company.<ref name="payincrease" />

In 2008, Walmart agreed to pay at least $352 million to settle lawsuits claiming that it forced employees to work off the clock. "Several lawyers described it as the largest settlement ever for lawsuits over wage violations."<ref>December 23, 2008. Wal-Mart Settles 63 Lawsuits Over Wages. The New York Times.</ref>

Because Walmart employs part-time and relatively low paid workers, some workers may partially qualify for state welfare programs.<ref name="O'Connor 14">Template:Cite news</ref> This has led critics to claim that Walmart increases the burden on taxpayer-funded services.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="AFL-CIO">"The Walmart Tax: A Review of Studies Examining Employers' Health Care Cost-Shifting". Template:Webarchive AFL–CIO. March 31, 2005. Retrieved on September 29, 2007.</ref> A 2002 survey by the state of Georgia's subsidized healthcare system, PeachCare, found that Walmart was the largest private employer of parents of children enrolled in its program; one quarter of the employees of Georgia Walmarts qualified to enroll their children in the federal subsidized healthcare system Medicaid.<ref>Bailey, Lynn. (April–June 2004). "The Extra Costs Behind "Everyday Low Prices!" The South Carolina Nurse. Retrieved on August 4, 2006.</ref> A 2004 study at the University of California, Berkeley charges that Walmart's low wages and benefits are insufficient, and although decreasing the burden on the social safety net to some extent, California taxpayers still pay $86 million a year to Walmart employees.<ref>Arindrajit, Dube; Ken Jacobs. (August 2, 2004). "Hidden Cost of Walmart Jobs Template:Webarchive". University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved on August 4, 2006.</ref><ref>Raine, George. (August 3, 2004). "Walmarts Cost State, Study Says Template:Webarchive". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on November 30, 2006.</ref>

On September 4, 2008, the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice ruled that Walmart de Mexico, the Mexican subsidiary of Walmart, must cease paying its employees in part with vouchers redeemable only at Walmart stores.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In July 2016, some workers in China went on unofficial strike at Walmart stores in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, and Harbin, Heilongjiang Province against the company's new working-hours scheduling system.<ref name="YuanYang16">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="ReutersJuly72016">Template:Cite news</ref> The striking workers protested the system, which allowed managers to schedule an unlimited number of hours per day totalling up to 174 hours per month without overtime pay.<ref name="YuanYang16" /> According to Walmart, workers could either opt into the new schedule or keep their original shifts, but pointed out that the new scheduling, which Walmart claim most workers they had contacted supported, allowed employees to work more shifts if they choose.<ref name="YuanYang16"/><ref name="ReutersJuly72016"/><ref name="Bose16">Template:Cite news</ref> Chinese Walmart staff accused the country's only officially recognised union, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), as being apathetic to their cause and unreceptive to workers' opinions. The ACFTU had previously signed an agreement with the company in 2006 that allowed Walmart to set up management-controlled unions instead. The union asked for the workers to return to their jobs. Reuters reported that by July 8, 2016, the striking workers returned to work when management agreed to consider their protests.<ref name="ReutersJuly82016">Template:Cite news</ref> Later it was reported that OUR Walmart provided strategic advice to the Walmart Chinese Workers Association (WCWA) prior to the strikes in China.<ref name="ReutersJuly71816">Template:Cite news</ref>

In January 2018, Walmart announced the increase of the minimum wage for its U.S. employees to $11 per hour.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Working conditions

Walmart has faced accusations involving poor working conditions for its employees. For example, a 2005 class action lawsuit in Missouri asserted approximately 160,000 to 200,000 people who were forced to work off-the-clock, were denied overtime pay, or were not allowed to take rest and lunch breaks.<ref name="missourisuit">Staff Writer. "Walmart to face employee suit in Missouri". USA Today. November 2, 2005. Retrieved on February 24, 2007.</ref> In 2000, Walmart paid $50 million to settle a class-action suit that asserted that 69,000 current and former Walmart employees in Colorado had been forced to work off-the-clock.<ref name="missourisuit" /> The company has also faced similar lawsuits in other states, including Pennsylvania,<ref name="PA">Staff Writer. "Walmart Hit With $78M Fine". CBS News. October 13, 2006. Retrieved on February 24, 2007.</ref> Oregon, and<ref name="OR">Staff Writer. "Walmart Loses Unpaid Overtime Case". CBS News. December 20, 2002. Retrieved on February 24, 2007.</ref> Minnesota.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Class-action suits were also filed in 1995 on behalf of full-time Walmart pharmacists whose base salaries and working hours were reduced as sales declined, resulting in the pharmacists being treated like hourly employees.<ref name="pharmacists">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Beginning in 2001, a lawsuit on behalf of 1.5 million women workers at Walmart was filed against the company, alleging that the company followed rules and practices that discriminated against women when it came to pay and promotions.<ref name="Liptak 11">Template:Cite news</ref> Beginning in 2005, the class-action suit Dukes v. Walmart Stores, Inc. was heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.<ref name="dukes_v_walmart_2005"/> Sociologist Dr. William Bielby provided expert opinion on the case, in which he evaluated Walmart's employment policies and corporate culture "against what social science research shows to be factors that create and sustain bias and those that minimize bias" and claimed there was gender bias.<ref name="Liptak 11"/><ref name="dukes_v_walmart_2005">Template:Cite journal</ref> In 2011, for the U.S. Supreme Court case Walmart v. Dukes, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia rejected Bielby's testimony, saying it was "worlds away" from proof.<ref name="Liptak 11"/> The Supreme Court threw out the lawsuit in a 5–4 vote, ruling that the plaintiffs did not meet the rules to proceed as a class.<ref name="Liptak 11"/>

On October 16, 2006, approximately 200 workers on the morning shift at a Walmart Super Center in Hialeah Gardens, Florida, walked out in protest against new store policies and rallied outside the store, shouting "We want justice" and criticizing the company's recent policies as "inhuman".<ref name="FLrevolt">Gogoi, Pallavi. "Walmart Workers Walk Out". NBC News. October 18, 2006. Retrieved on February 24, 2007.</ref> This marks the first time that Walmart had faced a worker-led revolt of such scale, according to both employees and the company.<ref name="FLrevolt" /> Reasons for the revolt included cutting full-time hours, a new attendance policy, and pay caps that the company imposed in August 2006, compelling workers to be available to work any shift (day, swing or night), and that shifts would be assigned by computers at corporate headquarters and not by local managers. Walmart quickly held talks with the workers, addressing their concerns.<ref name="FLrevolt" /> Walmart asserts that its policy permits associates to air grievances without fear of retaliation.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

A 2004 report by Democratic United States Representative George Miller alleged that in ten percent of Walmart's stores, nighttime employees were locked inside, holding them prisoner.<ref name="george_miller_report">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="georgemiller">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> There has been some concern that Walmart's policy of locking its nighttime employees in the building has been implicated in a longer response time to dealing with various employee emergencies, or weather conditions such as hurricanes in Florida.<ref name="lockin">Greenhouse, Steven. "Workers Assail Night Lock-Ins by Walmart". The New York Times. January 18, 2004. Retrieved on February 24, 2007.</ref> Walmart said this policy was to protect the workers and the store's contents in high-crime areas and acknowledges that some employees were inconvenienced in some instances for up to an hour as they had trouble locating a manager with the key. However, fire officials confirm that at no time were fire exits locked or employees blocked from escape. Walmart has advised all stores to ensure the door keys are available on site at all times.<ref name="lockin" />

In January 2004, The New York Times reported on an internal Walmart audit, conducted in July 2000, which examined one week's time-clock records for roughly 25,000 employees.<ref name="NYTchildren">Greenhouse, Steven. "In-House Audit Says Walmart Violated Labor Laws Template:Webarchive". The New York Times. January 13, 2004. Retrieved on February 24, 2007.</ref> According to the Times, the audit, "pointed to extensive violations of child-labor laws and state regulations requiring time for breaks and meals", including 1,371 instances of minors working too late, during school hours, or for too many hours in a day.<ref name="NYTchildren" /> There were 60,767 missed breaks and 15,705 lost meal times.<ref name="NYTchildren" /> Walmart's vice president for communications responded that company auditors had determined that the methodology used by The New York Times was flawed, and the company "did not respond to it in any way internally."<ref name="NYTchildren" /> Walmart has been accused of allowing undocumented workers to work in its stores. In one case, federal investigators say Walmart executives knew that contractors were using undocumented workers as they had been helping the federal government with an investigation for the previous three years.<ref name="nordlinger">Nordlinger, Jay. "The New Colossus". Template:Webarchive National Review. April 5, 2004. Retrieved on February 24, 2007.</ref> Some critics said that Walmart directly hired undocumented workers, while Walmart says they were employed by contractors who won bids to work for Walmart.<ref name="gold-zimmerman">"Papers Suggest Walmart Knew of Illegal Workers". (subscription required) The Wall Street Journal. November 5, 2005. Retrieved on April 1, 2007.</ref>

On October 23, 2003, federal agents raided 61 Walmart stores in 21 United States states in a crackdown known as "Operation Rollback", resulting in the arrests of 250 nightshift janitors who were undocumented.<ref name="oprollback">Staff Writer. "250 arrested at Walmart". CNN. October 23, 2003. Retrieved on February 24, 2007.</ref> Following the arrests, a grand jury convened to consider charging Walmart executives with labor racketeering crimes for knowingly allowing undocumented workers to work at their stores.<ref name="oprollback" /> The workers themselves were employed by agencies Walmart contracted with for cleaning services.<ref name="oprollback" /> Walmart blamed the contractors, but federal investigators point to wiretapped conversations showing that executives knew some workers did not have the correct documentation.<ref name="oprollback" /> The October 2003 raid was not the first time Walmart was found using unauthorized workers. Earlier raids in 1998 and 2001 resulted in the arrests of 100 workers without documentation located at Walmart stores around the country.<ref name="earlyraids">Green, Cynthia. "Federal Grand Jury Investigating Walmart's Use of Undocumented Immigrants". Template:Dead link The Labor Research Association. November 12, 2003. Retrieved on February 24, 2007.</ref>

In November 2005, 125 alleged undocumented workers were arrested while working on construction of a new Walmart distribution center in eastern Pennsylvania.<ref name="PAraid">Staff Writer. "Police: Walmart site raided". CNN. November 18, 2005. Retrieved on February 24, 2007.</ref> According to Walmart, the workers were employees of Walmart's construction subcontractor.

Allegations of wrongful termination

On January 13, 2011, four employees at a Walmart in Layton, Utah were confronted by a shoplifter who pulled out a handgun and took one of the employees hostage in an attempt to leave a small, closed office. The other three employees disarmed and subdued the shoplifter, and all four held onto the man until police arrived. A week later, the four employees were fired for violating a company policy requiring employees to "disengage" and "withdraw" from any situation involving a weapon.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The four fired employees, together with two other Walmart employees who had been fired after subduing violent customers, sued Walmart in the United States federal court in June 2011.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After the Utah Supreme Court ruled (in response to a request from a federal judge) that Utah law prohibited the firing of workers for defending themselves from injury or death, Walmart and the workers settled the case on undisclosed terms.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On July 9, 2013, an employee at a Walmart in Kemptville, Ontario, confronted a customer who had left his dog locked in his truck with the windows rolled up. She called the police when the customer refused to solve the problem. She was fired later the same day, reportedly on the grounds of "being rude to a customer", after rejecting instructions from her manager that such incidents should be reported to the store management rather than directly to the police.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has long had the goal of protecting workers, whether unionized or not, who engage in concerted activity by speaking with each other regarding conditions, wages, and/or benefits. The NLRB has recently stated that this also applies to social media.<ref name="Greenhouse 13">Template:Cite news</ref> The key point is whether or not the intent appears to be to communicate with fellow employees.<ref>NLRB bolsters private-employee speech Template:Webarchive, First Amendment Center (Vanderbilt University and the Newseum Institute), Douglas E. Lee, September 14, 2011. "Solomon [acting general counsel for the National Labor Relations Board] detailed the board's handling of 14 cases in which unfair labor practice charges arose out of social-media postings or policies. In half of those cases, the board found that the employers had violated the NLRA; in the other half, the board found the employers' actions were lawful. In cases involving social-media postings, a fact critical to the board's determination was whether the postings were directed at or discussed with coworkers".</ref><ref>What Can They Say? Template:Webarchive, The Employer's Lawyer, Casey Sipe, May 10, 2012.</ref> And Walmart's official policy is viewed as acceptable and not overly restrictive in this regard, revised in part after consultations with the NLRB.<ref>Even if It Enrages Your Boss, Social Net Speech Is Protected, The New York Times, Steven Greenhouse, January 21, 2013.</ref> However, in practice, Walmart may not always follow such a policy. For example, a September 2013 article in The Atlantic Wire, reports the case of a 17-year veteran of Walmart's Paramount, California location who started at $5.50 an hour as an overnight stocker and became a manager in housewares. "For 14 years I was a model associate", he states. In 2012, he became increasingly involved with OUR Walmart and was fired in May 2013. He reports that after he began speaking about labor conditions "they started silencing me, by holding me to standards that they weren't holding other associates to. We were so understaffed, and the workload placed on me [was] unsurmountable."<ref>Here Come the Biggest Walmart Protests Since Black Friday Template:Webarchive, The Atlantic Wire, Zach Schonfeld, September 5, 2013.</ref>

In 2017 Walmart released a wig to their website that was described with a racial slur as the wigs shade of brown on the website. This sparked lots of criticism and controversy on twitter for being racist. Walmart made the item unavailable shortly after the controversy started.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Health insurance

According to a September 2002 survey by the state of Georgia, one in four children of Walmart employees were enrolled in PeachCare for Kids, the state's health-insurance program for uninsured children, compared to the state's second-biggest employer, Publix, which had one child in the program for every 22 children of employees.<ref name="peachcare">Leonard, Andrew. "How the World Works: Our right to know about Walmart". Template:Webarchive Salon.com. January 23, 2006. Retrieved on February 24, 2007.</ref> A December 2004 nationwide survey commissioned by Walmart showed that the use of public-assistance health-care programs by children of Walmart workers was at a similar rate to other retailers' employees, and at rates similar to the United States population as a whole.<ref name="walmartsurvey">Zellner, Wendy. "Walmart's Clean Bill of Health? Template:Webarchive" BusinessWeek. February 10, 2005. Retrieved on February 24, 2007.</ref>

As of October 2005, Walmart's health insurance covered 44% or approximately 572,000 of its 1.3 million United States workers.<ref name="healthcoverage">Bernstein, Aaron. "A Stepped-Up Assault on Walmart". BusinessWeek. October 20, 2005. Retrieved on February 24, 2007.</ref> In comparison, Walmart rival and wholesaler Costco insures approximately 85% of its workers.<ref name="healthinsurance_costco1">The High Cost of Low Wages. Cascio, Wayne F. Harvard Business Review. December 2006. Retrieved on July 26, 2014.</ref><ref name="healthinsurance_costco2">Costco: The Anti-Wal-Mart Template:Webarchive. Nolan, Hamilton. June 6, 2013. Retrieved on July 26, 2014.</ref><ref>HBR says 82%, Gawker says 88%. avg=(82+88)/2=85.</ref> In 2003 Walmart spent an average of $3,500 per employee for health care, 27% less than the retail-industry average of $4,800.<ref>Wysocki, Bernard, Jr.; Zimmerman, Ann. "Walmart Cost-Cutting Finds Big Target in Health Benefits". The Wall Street Journal. September 30, 2003. Retrieved on February 23, 2007.</ref> When asked why so many Walmart workers choose to enroll in state health care plans instead of Walmart's own plan, Walmart CEO Lee Scott acknowledged that some states' benefits may be more generous than Walmart's own plan: "In some of our states, the public program may actually be a better value – with relatively high income limits to qualify, and low premiums."<ref name="288Bwelfarequeen">Bucher, Susan. "Wal-mart: the $288 billion welfare queen Template:Webarchive". Tallahassee Democrat. April 19, 2005. Retrieved on February 24, 2007.</ref> Critics of Walmart say in Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price that employees are paid so little they cannot afford health insurance.

On October 26, 2005, a Walmart internal memo sent to the firm's board of directors advised trimming over $1 billion in health care expenses by 2011 through measures such as attracting a younger, implicitly healthier work force by offering education benefits.<ref name="unhealthy">Staff Writer. "Walmart memo: Unhealthy need not apply". CNN. October 26, 2005. Retrieved on February 24, 2007.</ref> The memo also suggested giving sedentary Walmart staffers, such as cashiers, more physically demanding tasks, such as "cart-gathering", and eliminating full-time positions in favor of hiring part-time employees who would be ineligible for the more expensive health insurance and several policy proposals which may violate the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.<ref name="unhealthy" /> The memo also accused Walmart's lower paid employees of abusing emergency room visits, "possibly due to their prior experience with programs such as Medicaid", whereas such visits may actually be due to the reduced ability of uninsured or underinsured people to make timely appointments to see a regular physician.<ref name="unhealthy" />

On January 12, 2006, the Maryland legislature enacted a law requiring that all corporations with more than 10,000 employees in the state spend at least eight percent of their payroll on employee benefits, or pay into a state fund for the uninsured.<ref name="Maryland">Staff Writer. "Md. forces Walmart to spend more on health". NBC News. January 13, 2006. Retrieved on February 24, 2007.</ref> Walmart, with about 17,000 employees in Maryland, was the only known company to not meet this requirement before the bill passed. On July 7, 2006, the Maryland law was overturned in federal court by a United States District judge who held that a federal law, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), preempted the Maryland law. The judge said the law would "hurt Walmart by imposing the administrative burden of tracking benefits in Maryland differently than in other states."<ref name="mdlawoverturned">"Downloadable Audio of Walmart Statement on Maryland Health Plan Mandate". Template:Webarchive Walmart. July 21, 2006. Retrieved on February 24, 2007.</ref>

On April 17, 2006, Walmart announced it was making a health care plan available to part-time workers after one year of service, instead of the prior two-year requirement.<ref name="parttimehealth">Freking, Kevin. "Walmart to Offer More Health Coverage". ABC News. April 17, 2006. Retrieved on February 24, 2007. Template:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref> By January 2007, the number of workers enrolled in the company's health care plans increased by 8%, which Walmart attributed to the introduction of less expensive insurance policies.<ref name="2007healthcare">Barbaro, Michael; Abelson, Reed. "Walmart Says Health Plan Is Covering More Workers". The New York Times. January 11, 2007. Retrieved on February 24, 2007.</ref> However, even with this increase, less than half of Walmart's employees, or 47.4%, received health insurance through the company, with 10%, or 130,000, receiving no coverage at all.<ref name="2007healthcare" />

In March 2008, Walmart sued a former Walmart employee, Deborah Shank, to recover the money it spent for her health care after she was brain-damaged, restricted to a wheelchair, and nursing home-bound after her minivan was hit by a truck. Walmart sued the former employee for $470,000 after she received a settlement from the accident, citing that company policy forbids employees from receiving coverage if they also win a settlement in a lawsuit.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After a wave of bad publicity, Walmart dropped its suit.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In 2011, Walmart stopped providing health insurance for part-time employees working under 24 hours per week.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2013, health insurance benefits will not be available to employees who work fewer than 30 hours per week. Experts in labor and health care observed that the change will shift the burden of providing health care for Walmart employees to the federal government, as eligibility for Medicaid has been expanded under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or ACA).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> An analysis of Walmart's health plans as compared to plans offered in the ACA's health insurance marketplaces found that Walmart's plans have larger networks of providers than most plans in the marketplaces, and that gross premiums (before accounting for tax credits) are less expensive under Walmart's plans.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In October 2014, Walmart announced that they were cutting benefits for all associates working under 30 hours a week, which is said to affect roughly 30,000 (2%) of Walmart's workforce. The company acknowledged a $500 million jump in health care expenses as the primary reason for their decision. Walmart executive Sally Welborn stated in a blog post, "This year, the expenses were significant and led us to make some tough decisions as we begin our annual enrollment."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Labor union opposition

Walmart has been criticized for its policies against labor unions. Critics blame workers' reluctance to join the labor union on Walmart anti-union tactics such as managerial surveillance and pre-emptive closures of stores or departments who choose to unionize.<ref>Dicker, John. "Union Blues at Walmart" The Nation. June 20, 2002. Retrieved on July 26, 2006.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Cbignore Template:Dead link</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Walmart claims that it is not anti-union but "pro-associate", arguing that its employees do not need to pay third parties to discuss problems with management as the company's open-door policy enables employees to lodge complaints and submit suggestions all the way up the corporate ladder.<ref name="walmartunionposition">"Walmart's Position on Unions (For U.S. Operations Only)". Template:Webarchive Walmart. October 31, 2006. Retrieved on March 2, 2007.</ref> In 1970, Walmart's late founder Sam Walton resisted a unionization push by the Retail Clerks International Union in two small Missouri towns by hiring a professional union buster to conduct an anti-union campaign.<ref name="mojones">Olsson, Karen. "Up Against Walmart". Mother Jones. March/April 2003. Retrieved on March 2, 2007.</ref> On the union buster's advice, Walton also took steps to show his workers how the company had their best interests in mind, encouraging them to air concerns with managers and implementing a profit-sharing program.<ref name="mojones" /> A few years later, Walmart hired a consulting firm, Alpha Associates, to develop a union avoidance program.<ref name="mojones" />

In 2000, meat cutters in Jacksonville, Texas, voted to unionize. Walmart subsequently eliminated in-house meat-cutting jobs in favor of prepackaged meats, claiming that the measure would cut costs and prevent lawsuits.<ref name="Walmartyrs">Lydersen, Kari. "Walmartyrs". In These Times. May 15, 2000. Retrieved on March 2, 2007.</ref> Walmart said that the nationwide closing of in-store meat packaging had been planned for many years and was not related to the unionization.<ref name="Walmartyrs" /> In June 2003, a National Labor Relations Board judge ordered Walmart to restore the meat department to its prior structure, complete with meat-cutting, and to recognize and bargain with the union over the effects of any change to case-ready meat sales.<ref name="Walmartyrs2">Greenhouse, Steven. "Judge Rules Against Walmart On Refusal to Talk to Workers". The New York Times. June 19, 2003. Retrieved on March 2, 2007.</ref>

Walmart's anti-union policies also extend beyond the United States. The documentary Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price, shows one successful unionization of a Walmart store in Jonquière, Quebec, Canada, in 2004, but Walmart closed the store five months later because the company did not approve of the new "business plan" a union would require.<ref name="Canada-union">Bianco, Anthony. "No Union Please, We're Walmart". BusinessWeek. February 13, 2006. Retrieved on July 26, 2006.</ref><ref>Staff Writer. "Walmart faces Canadian labour clash". Template:Webarchive MSNBC. April 30, 2006. Retrieved on July 26, 2006.</ref> In September 2005, the Québec Labor Board ruled that the closing of a Walmart store amounted to a reprisal against unionized workers and has ordered additional hearings on possible compensation for the employees, though it offered no details.<ref name="laborboard">Austen, Ian. "Quebec panel rejects Walmart store closing". Template:Webarchive International Herald Tribune. September 20, 2005. Retrieved on March 2, 2007.</ref>

In March 2005, Walmart executive Tom Coughlin was forced to resign from its board of directors, facing charges of embezzlement.<ref name="coughlin-union">Barbaro, Michael. "Was Walmart's Anti-Union Image Used as a Shield?" The New York Times. January 9, 2006. Retrieved on March 2, 2007.</ref> Coughlin said that the money was used for an anti-union project involving cash bribes paid to employees of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union in exchange for a list of names of Walmart employees that had signed union cards.<ref name="coughlin-union" /> He also said that the money was unofficially paid to him, by Walmart, as compensation for his anti-union efforts.<ref name="coughlin-union" /> In August 2006, Coughlin pleaded guilty to stealing money, merchandise, and gift cards from Walmart, but avoided prison time due to his poor health. He was sentenced to five years probation and required to pay a $50,000 fine and $411,000 in restitution to Walmart and the Internal Revenue Service. A United States attorney has stated that no evidence was found to back up Coughlin's initial claims, and Walmart continues to deny the existence of the anti-union program, though Coughlin himself apparently restated those claims to reporters after his conviction.<ref>Former Wal-Mart Exec Sentenced for Theft". The Washington Post. August 11, 2006. Retrieved on August 11, 2006</ref>

Walmart has also had some run-ins with the German Ver.di labor union as well.<ref name="A Bumpy Ride in Europe">Fairlamb, David with Laura Cohn "A Bumpy Ride in Europe Template:Webarchive." BusinessWeek. October 6, 2003. Retrieved on July 27, 2006.</ref> These issues, combined with cultural differences and low performing stores, led Walmart to pull out of the German market entirely in 2006.<ref name="German-retreat">Norton, Kate. "Walmart's German Retreat". BusinessWeek. July 28, 2006. Retrieved on March 2, 2007.</ref>

In August 2006, Walmart announced that it would allow workers at all of its Chinese stores to become members of trade unions, and that the company would work with the state-sanctioned All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) on representation for its 28,000 staff.<ref>Cheng, Allen T.; Spears, Lee. "Walmart to Allow Unions in China". The Washington Post. August 10, 2006. Retrieved on March 2, 2007.</ref><ref>"Walmart SEC Form 10-Q". United States Securities and Exchange Commission. October 31, 2005. Retrieved on July 31, 2006.</ref> However, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions has been criticized Template:By whom because it is the only trade union in China and as a tool of the government, ACFTU has been seen Template:By whom as not acting in the best interest of its members (workers), bowing to government pressure on industry growth and not defending workers' rights.<ref name=econ>Membership required:Trade unions in China, The Economist, July 31, 2008</ref>

In November 2012, the United Food & Commercial Workers joined with several Walmart workers with a plan to go on strike on Black Friday at several stores nationwide in protest to low pay, an increase in health insurance premiums, and not being given the option to have the day off or having Thanksgiving off.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Walmart has countered this by saying that the strike is illegal due to the union not being sanctioned by the company, and that the striking workers are a small minority of the company's workforce, with the vast majority of workers willing and ready to work the retail industry's busiest day of the year.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In May 2013, Walmart employees associated with a union-backed labor group called OUR Walmart began what it says will be the first "prolonged strikes" in Walmart's history.<ref>Walmart Workers Launch First-Ever 'Prolonged Strikes' Today. The Nation, May 2013.</ref>

For Thanksgiving 2013, CNN estimates that approximately a million United States Walmart employees would work over the course of the holiday, with big specials starting at 6:00 pm on Thanksgiving Day. The company stated that employees would receive "a nice Thanksgiving dinner at work", extra "holiday pay", and 25% discount off one purchase, regardless of how many items are purchased at that time.<ref>Wal-Mart Thanksgiving deals start at 6 p.m., CNN, Emily Jane Fox, November 12, 2013.</ref> According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the extra holiday pay equaled the average daily shift the employee worked during the previous two weeks. Walmart would also expand its one-hour guarantee from three items the year before to twenty-one items. This means that a customer standing in line for such an item from 6–7 pm or from 8–9 pm would be guaranteed to get it at that price some point before Christmas.<ref name="Cleveland-Plain-Dealer-Nov-12-2013">Walmart giving 1 million employees who work on Thanksgiving extra pay, a turkey dinner and 25% off a future purchase, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Janet H. Cho, November 12, 2013.</ref>

In July 2019, the Walmart subreddit was flooded with pro-union memes in a protest to the firing of an employee who posted confidential material to the subreddit. Many of these posts were angry with Walmart surveying its staff on the Internet. The posting of the union content is in a response to the aforementioned alleged anti-union position Walmart has taken in the past.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Surveillance patent

In July 2018, Walmart was granted a patent titled "Listening to the Frontend"<ref name="US Patent 10,020,004 B2 July 10, 2018">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> for audio surveillance technology that could allow it to record employees as well as its shoppers.<ref name="CBS News July 2018 audio surveillance">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The company says the technology could help it boost worker productivity by generating performance metrics for each employee based on cashier area sounds, such as checkout scanner beeps, and even conversations.<ref name="Common Dreams July 2018 audio surveillance patent">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It would not say whether it plans to actually implement the multi-sensor system.<ref name="Engadget July 2018 audio surveillance patent">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Gender and sexual orientation

In 2007, a gender discrimination lawsuit, Dukes v. Walmart Stores, Inc., was filed against Walmart, alleging that female employees were discriminated against in matters regarding pay and promotions. A class action suit was sought, which would have been the nation's largest in history, covering 1.5 million past and current employees.<ref name="Greenhouse 07">Template:Cite news</ref> On June 20, 2011, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Walmart's favor, stating that the plaintiffs did not have enough in common to constitute a class.<ref name="SCOTUS_Walmart">Template:Cite news</ref> The court ruled unanimously that because of the variability of the plaintiffs' circumstances, the class action could not proceed as presented, and furthermore, in a 5Template:Ndash4 decision that it could not proceed as any kind of class action suit.<ref name="Lennard_Natasha">Template:Cite news</ref> Several plaintiffs, including the lead plaintiff, Betty Dukes, expressed their intent to file individual discrimination lawsuits separately.<ref name="Clifford_Stephanie">Template:Cite news</ref>

According to a consultant hired by plaintiffs in a sex discrimination lawsuit, in 2001, Walmart's EEOC filings showed that female employees made up 65 percent of Walmart's hourly paid workforce, but only 33Template:Nbsppercent of its management.<ref name="Conlin 01">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="zellner">Template:Cite news</ref> Just 35 percent of its store managers were women, compared to 57 percent at similar retailers.<ref name="zellner" /> Walmart says comparisons with other retailers are unfair, because it classifies employees differently; if department managers were included in the totals, women would make up 60 percent of the managerial ranks.<ref name="zellner" /> Others have criticized the lawsuit as without basis in the law and as an abuse of the class action mechanism.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2007, Walmart was named by the National Association for Female Executives as one of the top 35 companies for Executive Women.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

Walmart's rating on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, a measure of how companies treat LGBT employees and customers, has increased greatly during the past decade.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The company was praised for expanding its anti-discrimination policy protecting gay and lesbian employees,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> as well as for a new definition of "family" that included same-sex partners.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="EqualityIndex16">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> However, they have been criticized by the HRC in other areas, such as not renewing its membership in the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.<ref name="washblade">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In January 2006, Walmart announced that "diversity efforts include new groups of minority, female and gay employees that meet at Walmart headquarters in Bentonville to advise the company on marketing and internal promotion. There are seven Business Resource Groups: women, African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, Gays and Lesbians, and a disabled group."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Poorly run and understaffed stores

In 2015, the Walmart CEO acknowledged a need for Walmart to refocus on cleanliness and tidiness, restocking shelves quickly, integration with digital, sideline businesses such as gas stations and care clinics, better selection such as in fresh produce, and correcting the situation in which Walmart prices were not always as low as those of competitors.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In a January 2012 article in the Harvard Business Review, Professor Zeynep Ton stated, "Moreover, the financial benefits of cutting employees are direct, immediate, and easy to measure, whereas the less-desirable effects are indirect, long term, and difficult to measure." A lot of retailers, including Walmart, evaluate managers by a ratio of sales to payroll expense. Managers do not have direct control over sales, almost never making decisions on merchandise mix, layout, or pricing. However, they very much have direct control over payroll and when sales numbers drop, such managers are quick to reduce payroll. That is, labor ends up being treated as a cost driver rather than a sales driver. At times, these pressures have even been such that Walmart managers placed pressure on employees to "work off the clock", a form of wage theft. As counter examples of companies which are both price leaders and invest in their employees, Prof. Ton points to QuikTrip convenience stores, Mercadona and Trader Joe's supermarkets, and Costco wholesale clubs.<ref name="Harvard Business Review, Zeynep Ton, 2012">Why "Good Jobs" Are Good for Retailers, Harvard Business Review, Zeynep Ton, January–February 2012. "Of course the relationship between staffing levels and profitability is not linear: After a certain point, increasing the former will reduce the latter. But instead of responding to short-term pressures by automatically cutting labor, stores should strive to find the staffing level that maximizes profits on a sustained basis. In many cases, that will mean adding workers."</ref>

In February 2013, Walmart received an American Customer Satisfaction Index rating of 71 as compared to 81 for Target, placing Walmart last for the year among retail and department stores.<ref>Who's right about Wal-Mart's customer satisfaction? Template:Webarchive, MSN Money, Jonathan Berr, April 2, 2013.</ref> According to Bloomberg News, this marks the sixth year in a row Walmart has either finished last or tied for last.<ref name="Bloomberg-News-March-2013">Customers Flee Wal-Mart Empty Shelves for Target, Costco, Bloomberg News, Renee Dudley, March 26, 2013.</ref>

According to a March 2013 Bloomberg News article, during the last five years Walmart added 455 United States stores for a 13% increase. During this same period, its overall United States employees including Sam's Clubs employees went down ever so slightly at 1.4% which translates to a reduction of 20,000 employees. In Wisconsin, an employee who oversees grocery deliveries and who is a member of OUR Walmart reports that the store is a long way from the previous mantra of "in the door and to the floor". Instead, merchandise ready for the sales floor remains on pallets and in steel bins in the back of the store with "no passable aisles". Professor Zeynep Ton states that companies can get in a downward spiral where too few labor hours lead to operational problems and lower sales and these reduced sales then become a rationale to reduce labor hours even further. "It requires a wake-up call at a higher level", she said. A customer from Delaware states that the cosmetics section "looked like someone raided it" and "You hate to see a company self-destruct, but there are other places to go." A customer in California states, "You wait 20, 25 minutes for someone to help you, then the person was not trained on mixing paint. It was like, you have to help them help you."<ref name="Bloomberg-News-March-2013" /><ref>See also "Get Your Shit Together Walmart - Part 2 - Florin Road". This has photos and profanity.</ref>

An April 3, 2013 The New York Times article cites Supermarket News that Walmart's grocery prices are usually about 15 percent cheaper than competitors. At the start of 2007, the company had an average of 338 employees for each Walmart and Sam's Club store in the United States, and by April 2013, this had reduced to an average of 281 employees per store. Terrie Ellerbee, associate editor of grocery publication The Shelby Report, traced the problem to 2010 when Walmart reduced the number of different merchandise items carried in an attempt to make stores less cluttered. Customers did not like this change, and Walmart added the merchandise back, but did not add employees back.<ref>Walmart Strains to Keep Aisles Stocked Fresh, The New York Times, Stephanie Clifford, April 3, 2013.</ref>

An April 5, 2013, article in the Consumerist includes photographs of Walmart shelves which are only partially stocked, primarily in health and beauty products. One employee is quoted as saying, "As soon as we get a full crew we start to lose people through them quitting or being fired. Management seems to wait until we need 6 or 7 people, then we get a rash of new hires." And another employee is quoted as saying, "they make the rest of us work faster and harder, saying the task manager system, which is basically a [point-of-sale] system telling them how long it should take us to do our job, says we should be done already or we're taking too long."<ref>Walmart Employees Tell Consumerist About All Those Empty Shelves, Consumerist, Chris Morran, April 5, 2013. This article also includes photographs of store shelves in further need of stocking (primarily in health and beauty products) from various Walmart stores in U.S. state of Maryland.</ref>

An April 9, 2013 article in Time Business & Money reported that some Walmart stores have cut labor hours so much that they were having trouble physically moving merchandise from the back onto stores shelves. However, even with these problems, Walmart was performing better than Target in the measure of retail turnover, turning over its entire inventory 8 times a year as compared to 6.4 for Target. Walmart states it has 90% to 95% in-stock, but given inventory levels in United States stores, even this means the company could be foregoing $1.29 billion to $2.58 billion in potential sales. The article's author writes that no amount of "computer wizardry" will eliminate the need for human beings to also move merchandise onto shelves. The author further writes that Walmart's whole business model is based on reducing the carrying costs of unsold merchandise, and any speed bump along the line adds back costs. Front-end managers are supposed to open another register any time there are more than three customers in line, but these employees have to come from some other part of the store, and the night crew may or may not be able to catch up.<ref name="Time-Business-and-Money-April-2013">The Trouble Lurking on Walmart's Empty Shelves, Time Business & Money, Bill Saporito, April 9, 2013.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In September 2013, Bloomberg Businessweek reported that Walmart will be offering 35,000 part-time employees full-time jobs and will be offering another 35,000 temporary employees permanent part-time positions. Walmart will also be looking to hire 55,000 seasonal employees for the upcoming holiday season. This compares to 120,000 jobs Walmart has cut over the last five years.<ref>Wal-Mart Tries Workforce Surge to Battle Sparse Shelves, Bloomberg Businessweek, Susan Berfield, September 23, 2013.</ref> This number does conflict with the 20,000 jobs cut from the above Bloomberg News of March 2013.<ref name="Bloomberg-News-March-2013" />

For Thanksgiving 2013 specials, Walmart included twenty-one items which included a one-hour guarantee, where customers would pay at that time and then go online to arrange delivery to a store of their choice by Christmas.<ref name="Cleveland-Plain-Dealer-Nov-12-2013" /> However, there were problems and delays for some customers when they went online to register their access codes and paid gift certificates.<ref>Walmart Black Friday One Hour Guarantee Extended, Gotta Be Mobile, Josh Smith,12/01/2013.</ref><ref>Walmart's In-Stock Guarantee – NFS Readers Reporting Major Problems, News For Shoppers, Chris Andrews, November 29, 2013.</ref>

In February 2014, a local NBC affiliate in Troy, Alabama, United States, showed photographs of empty shelves and aired customer complaints, with one customer stating, "And merchandise? When you don't have any salt on the shelf, no matter what brand, that's pretty bad." Regarding the cleanliness and repair of restrooms, another customer stated, "The bathrooms? They have things that are broken in there and instead of fixing the problem, they have a trash bag taped over it, and it smells horrible." The reporter who was taking photographs was approached by three persons who identified themselves as managers and escorted out of the store.<ref>12 News Defenders: Troy residents fed up with empty Walmart, WSFA (NBC affiliate), Hannah Lane, Posted: Feb 19, Updated: February 20, 2014.</ref> Within 24 hours, perhaps motivated by the fact that the story did appear on TV, Walmart's corporate office sent additional employees from neighboring stores to this store.<ref>12 News Defenders get results after featuring empty Troy Walmart, WSFA (NBC affiliate), Hannah Lane, Posted: February 20, 2014, Updated: February 21, 2014. One customer stated, "When corporate heard a major news network air a story, they are going to stand up and take attention."</ref>

No AEDs in stores (automated external defibrillators)

Many Walmart stores have no AEDs, which has led to criticism from those who have needed them whilst in their premises.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Family wonders why no AEDS in Walmart, Huffington Post, March 23, 2015">Family wonders why no AEDS in Walmart, company says evaluation ongoing Template:Webarchive, Huffington Post, March 23, 2015.</ref><ref name=":1">'Business decision' leads to no AED at Walmart, Kirksville Daily Express (Missouri), Jason Hunsicker, October 22, 2011.</ref>

In 2011, the Walmart store in Kirksville, Missouri, had an opportunity to participate in a local program which placed 26 AEDs in various schools, churches, and businesses. The local store management was initially open to participation. However, Walmart corporate declined to participate.<ref name=":1" />

In 2015 in Saskatoon, Canada, a 62-year-old man had a heart attack in a parking lot of a Walmart store. Two off-duty nurses who knew CPR offered assistance, whilst a third person ran to a different store to get that store's AED machine, and the man survived. The man's family criticized Walmart for not having an AED machine. The director of corporate affairs for Walmart Canada said the store has an employee on shift who is trained in first aid and CPR as is required by Canadian law, and that the company is in the process deciding whether or not to place AEDs in stores.<ref name="Family wonders why no AEDS in Walmart, Huffington Post, March 23, 2015" />

In 2018 in Alberta, Canada, a woman shopping with her adult daughters had a heart attack at a Walmart store. The 911 operator instructed one daughter to find an AED machine. The employee at the Walmart customer service desk did not know whether or not the store had one. Alberta law does not require AEDs in businesses, and Walmart stores in Alberta do not have them. The woman was not able to be resuscitated and died.<ref name=":0">Alberta woman advocates more first aid training, AED access after mother's death, Global News (Canada), Emily Mertz, May 25, 2018.</ref>

Imports and globalization

As a large customer to most of its vendors, Walmart openly uses its bargaining power to bring lower prices to attract its customers. The company negotiates lower prices from vendors. For certain basic products, Walmart "has a clear policy" that prices go down from year to year.<ref name="fastco">Fishman, Charles. "The Walmart You Don't Know". Fast Company. December 2003. Retrieved on August 29, 2006. Template:Webarchive</ref> If a vendor does not keep prices competitive with other suppliers, they risk having their brand removed from Walmart's shelves in favor of a lower-priced competitor.<ref name="pbs">"Is Walmart Good for America?" PBS. November 16, 2004. Retrieved on August 29, 2006.Template:Registration required</ref>

While Sam Walton was alive, Walmart had a "Buy American" campaign, but it was exposed shortly after he died that signs saying "Buy American" were on bins of Asian made products. Yet by 2005, about 60% of Walmart's merchandise was imported, compared to 6% in 1984, although others estimated the percentage was 40% from the beginning.<ref name="pbs" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2004, Walmart spent $18 billion on Chinese products alone, and if it were an individual economy, the company would rank as China's eighth largest trading partner, ahead of Russia, Australia, and Canada.<ref>Jingjing, Jiang. "Walmart's China inventory to hit $18b this year". China Daily. November 29, 2004. Retrieved on August 29, 2006.</ref> One group estimates that the growing United States trade deficit with China, heavily influenced by Walmart imports, is estimated to have moved over 1.5 million jobs that might otherwise be in the United States to China between 1989 and 2003.<ref>Scott, Robert E. "U.S.-China Trade, 1989–2003: Impact on jobs and industries, nationally and state-by-state". Template:Webarchive Economic Policy Institute. January 2005. Retrieved on August 29, 2006.</ref> According to the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO), "Walmart is the single largest importer of foreign-produced goods in the United States", their biggest trading partner is China, and their trade with China alone constitutes approximately 10% of the total United States trade deficit with China Template:As of.<ref>Serna, Liberty; Moser, Paul. "Paying the Price at Walmart: Walmart's Imports Lead to U.S. Jobs Exports". Template:Webarchive AFL–CIO. 2006. Retrieved on August 29, 2006.</ref>

Overseas labor concerns

Walmart has been criticized for not providing adequate supervision of its foreign suppliers. It has also been criticized for using sweatshops and prison labor. In 1995, Chinese dissident Harry Wu charged that Walmart was contracting prison labor in Guangdong Province. Walmart said it did not use prison labor.<ref name="palast">Palast, Gregory. "Praise Uncle Sam and pass the 18p an hour". The Guardian. June 20, 1999. Retrieved on August 29, 2006.</ref> There have also been reports of teenagers in Bangladesh working in sweatshops 80 hours per week at $0.14 per hour, for Walmart supplier Beximco. The documentary film Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price shows images of Walmart goods-producing factories in poor condition, and factory workers subject to abuse and conditions that the documentary producers considered inhumane.

Walmart currently uses monitoring which critics say is inadequate and "leaves outsiders unable to verify" conditions. Since Walmart will not release its audits or factory names, outside organizations are expected to simply accept Walmart's claims as fact.<ref>Bernstein, Aaron. "A Major Swipe At Sweatshops". BusinessWeek. May 23, 2005. Retrieved on August 29, 2006.</ref> Critics suggest an agency such as Social Accountability International or the Fair Labor Association should do the monitoring. In 2004, Walmart began working with Business for Social Responsibility, a San Francisco, California-based nonprofit organization, to reach out to groups active in monitoring overseas plants.<ref>Berner, Robert. "Can Walmart Wear a White Hat?". BusinessWeek. September 22, 2005. Retrieved on August 29, 2006.</ref>

In June 2006, Walmart was excluded from the investment portfolio of The Government Pension Fund of Norway, which held stock values of about $430 million in the company, due to a social audit into alleged labor rights violations in Walmart operations in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Africa, and Asia.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Although Walmart did not respond to questions from the fund's auditors, it later said the decision "[does not] appear to be based on complete information".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On November 24, 2012, a fire in a Bangladesh clothing factory resulted in the death of 112 workers. Survivors said that fire extinguishers did not work, an exit door was locked, and that when the fire alarm went off, bosses told workers to return to their sewing machines. Victims were trapped or jumped to their deaths from the eight-story building, which had no fire escapes or exits. Initially Walmart said it could not confirm that it had ever sourced apparel from the factory. However photos taken by Bangladeshi labor activists showed Walmart-branded clothing present in the factory after the fire. Walmart later said that a supplier had subcontracted work to the factory "in direct violation of our policies." However, on December 4, documents revealed that at least five supplier companies had been using the Bangladesh factory to provide apparel for Walmart and its subsidiary Sam's Club during the past year. It was also disclosed in a November 24 article in The New York Times that officials who had attended a 2011 Bangladesh meeting to discuss factory safety in the garment industry said that the Walmart official there had played the lead role in blocking an effort to have global retailers pay more for apparel to help Bangladesh factories improve their electrical and fire safety.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Allegations of bribery and coverup in Mexico

In 2012, The New York Times reported that Walmart had been made aware eight years earlier that executives of Walmart México, its subsidiary in that country, had paid millions of dollars in bribes to local officials to expedite permits for construction and operation of its many stores in that country. The company had opened many stores in Mexico in the late 1990s and early 2000s, attempting to widely establish itself before competitors could. Sergio Cicero, a lawyer who had been responsible for obtaining those permits and was bitter about being passed over for the position of general counsel with Walmart México provided the company's corporate general counsel's office with evidence showing that the company had made large payments to gestores, workers who deal with bureaucracies on behalf of citizens and businesses, with coded indications that the money was being passed on to officials to expedite permits.<ref name="MYT Mexican scandal article">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="MYT Mexican scandal article2">Template:Cite news</ref>

Company officials hired a veteran FBI agent to conduct a preliminary inquiry, instead of hiring an outside law firm as it usually did for major inquiries, such as a similar one in 2003 which found that Walmart México had been helping high-volume customers evade that country's sales taxes. The special investigative team found evidence corroborating almost all of Cicero's allegations, and evidence suggesting that the bribery had been even more extensive, including $16 million in "donations" to local politicians and their organizations. They recommended opening a full investigation, and possibly notifying the Justice Department, as it appeared that both Mexican law and the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) had been violated.<ref name="MYT Mexican scandal article" />

Executives at Walmart México chafed at the investigation, reportedly complaining that that was how business was done in the country. They told their counterparts at corporate headquarters that the investigators were being too aggressive, and some of the company's top executives apparently agreed. Feeling Walmart had had enough bad publicity in recent years, they allowed the investigation to be concluded by a short report from José Luis Rodríguezmacedo, the head of Walmart México, who had himself been suspected of involvement. It largely blamed Cicero, claiming he had fabricated the allegations to conceal his own embezzlement from the company with the help of the gestores, one of whom was his wife's law partner. Some Walmart executives found the report incomplete and contradictory, but the investigation was closed. None of the Mexican executives investigated were ever disciplined, and some were even promoted afterwards.<ref name="MYT Mexican scandal article" />

In December 2011, several months before the story broke, Walmart announced it had begun an internal review of its FCPA compliance procedures. It was unclear how the Justice Department might respond. While the FCPA's five-year statute of limitations appeared to bar prosecution under that statute, falsified financial statements in the years since could be seen as obstruction of justice under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and acts taken to conceal the bribery investigation subsequent to 2007 could constitute conspiracy.<ref name="Times blog on legal ramifications">Template:Cite news</ref>

Product selection

Walmart's product selection has been criticized by some groups in the past, primarily as viewed as a promotion of a particular ideology or as a response to its original rural, religious and conservative target market. In 2003, Walmart removed certain men's magazines from its shelves, such as Maxim, FHM, and Stuff, citing customer complaints regarding their sexual content.<ref>Staff Writer. "Walmart banishes bawdy mags". CNN. May 6, 2003. Retrieved on September 29, 2006.</ref> Later that year, it decided to partly obscure the covers of Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, and Redbook on store shelves due to "customer concerns", and refused to stock an issue of Sports IllustratedTemplate:'s swimsuit special because it objected to one photograph.<ref>Younge, Gary. "When Walmart comes to town". The Guardian. August 18, 2003. Retrieved on September 29, 2006.</ref>

Since 1991, Walmart has not carried music albums marked with the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA's) Parental Advisory Label (although it allows R-rated movies and video games rated "Mature"), although it carries edited versions of such albums, with obscenities removed or overdubbed with less offensive lyrics.<ref>Schneid, Scott. "Ratings Soup – Music II". Template:Webarchive Family Media Guide. Template:Webarchive July 26, 2005. Retrieved on September 29, 2006.</ref> In one example in 2005, Walmart rejected the original cover of country singer Willie Nelson's reggae album, Countryman, which featured marijuana leaves, in a pro-marijuana statement. To satisfy Walmart, the record label, Lost Highway Records, issued the album with an alternative cover, without recalling the original cover.<ref>Hall, Sarah. "Walmart Tweaks Willie's Reggae". E! July 12, 2005. Retrieved on September 29, 2006. Template:Webarchive</ref> In 2009 Green Day refused to make an edited version of their album 21st Century Breakdown for Walmart, with frontman Billie Joe Armstrong claiming "You feel like you're in 1953 or something", thus the album is not carried by Walmart.<ref>Montgomery, James. "You Won't Find Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown at Wal-mart</ref> However albums carrying the label can be found in Canadian Walmart stores, for example.Template:Clarify

In 1999, Walmart announced that it would not stock emergency contraception pills in its pharmacies, not citing any particular reasons except for a "business decision" that was made earlier.<ref name="morningafter">Staff Writer. "Walmart: No Morning-After Pill". CBS News. May 14, 1999. Retrieved on September 29, 2006.</ref> The move was criticized by family planning advocates, saying that women in small towns where Walmart pharmacies had little competition would have greater difficulties in obtaining the drug.<ref name="morningafter" /> The decision was challenged in 2006, as three Massachusetts women filed suit against the company after they were unable to purchase emergency contraception at their local Walmart stores,<ref name="morningafter2">Staff Writer. "Walmart To Stock Morning-After Pill: Giant Retailer Reverses Earlier Policy Following Mass. Lawsuit". CBS News. March 3, 2006. Retrieved on November 23, 2007.</ref> resulting in a ruling that required Walmart to stock the drug in all of its pharmacies in Massachusetts.<ref name="morningafter2" /> Expecting that other states would soon do the same, Walmart reversed its policy and announced that it would begin to stock the drug nationwide,<ref name="morningafter2" /> while at the same time maintaining its conscientious objection policy, allowing any Walmart pharmacy employee who does not feel comfortable dispensing a prescription to refer customers to another pharmacy.<ref name="morningafter2" />

Walmart has also been criticized for selling some controversial products. For example, in 2004 Walmart carried the anti-Semitic hoax<ref name="Zion_hoax">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Protocols of the Elders of Zion in its online catalogue. The Jewish civil rights organization Anti-Defamation League wrote to the President of Walmart in September 2008 noting the text, "has been the major weapon in the arsenals of anti-Semites around the world", and called on Walmart to, "unequivocally state the nature of the book and to disassociate itself from any endorsement of it."<ref>Anti-Defamation League "Letter to Walmart RE: The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion" Template:Dead link September 21, 2008, Retrieved on February 21, 2009 Template:Cbignore Template:Dead link</ref> Walmart stopped selling the book shortly thereafter.<ref name="Ballon 04">Template:Cite news</ref>

In October 2004, Walmart canceled its order for The Daily Show's America (The Book) after discovering a page that depicts each US Supreme Court judge nude. A week later, it returned copies of comedian George Carlin's When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?, with a cover recreating The Last Supper with Jesus' seat empty and Carlin seated next to it. The company said that the copies were shipped to it by mistake and a Walmart spokeswoman said she did not "believe this particular product would appeal" to its customer base.<ref>Staff Writer. "Carlin's no joke for Walmart". CNN. October 28, 2004. Retrieved on September 29, 2006.</ref>

In January 2006, Walmart was criticized for the recommendation system on its website which suggested that some black-related DVDs, such as Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and documentaries on Baptist minister and civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr. were similar to the Planet of the Apes television series DVD box set. It quickly corrected the page, saying that it was a software glitch, but ultimately blamed the matter on human error.<ref>Mui, Ylan Q. "Walmart Blames Web Site Incident on Employee's Error". The Washington Post. January 7, 2006. Retrieved on September 29, 2006.</ref>

A December 2007 report published by the Environmental Investigation Agency, a non-governmental agency, revealed that some furniture sold at Walmart was made from wood which had been illegally logged in protected Russian habitats for Siberian tigers and other wildlife.<ref name="EIA_Global">Template:Cite news</ref> This led the company to investigate its suppliers and promise to eliminate products made from illegal wood by 2013. They also joined the Global Forest & Trade Network, an organization dedicated to eliminating illegal logging.<ref name="Holahan_Catherine">Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2015, Walmart stopped selling military-style semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15. In 2018 it stopped selling firearms and ammunition to 18-20 year olds, which led to a lawsuit.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2017, Walmart was sued for selling fake craft beer. The beer is labeled and marketed as being produced by the non-existent "Trouble Brewery" but is actually made by WX Brands, a large corporate brewery that also makes Genesee beer.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

At the end of 2017, Walmart removed T-shirts which implied a promotion of violence, with the words "Rope. Tree. Journalist. Some Assembly Required".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Executive Director Dan Shelley of the Radio Television Digital News Association said that while RTDNA is "a fierce proponent of the First Amendment that is politically nonpartisan" and that Walmart is within its legal rights to sell the T-shirt, "that doesn't mean it is the right thing to do." A Walmart spokesperson said the shirt "clearly violates our policy."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In May 2019, Walmart was sued by the Center For Inquiry (CFI) for selling homeopathic products on the shelf next to traditional medicine. The CFI, a not-for-profit educational organization, stated in the complaint that Walmart "uses marketing, labeling, and product placement to falsely present homeopathic products as equivalent alternatives to science-based medicines, and to represent homeopathic products as effective treatments for specific diseases and symptoms."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Nicholas Little of CFI said that homeopathic products should remain legal to purchase, but should be labelled products honestly.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The FDA currently does not regulate homeopathic products, but in recent years has signaled their intent to regulate the industry to a higher level.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This follows on from a similar lawsuit filed by CFI against pharmacy chain CVS in 2018.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Walmart responded by stating "Our Equate private label homeopathic products are designed to include information directly stating that the claims are not based on accepted medical evidence and have not been evaluated by the FDA. We take allegations like these seriously and will respond as appropriate with the court."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In an August 2019 interview, Little commented that "The problem is the government agencies (the FDA and FTC) aren't doing their job. ... The FDA and FTC have rules and guidelines, but they don't enforce them."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In July, 2019, CFI announced that the Stiefel Freethought Foundation was contributing an additional $150,000 to the previously committed $100,000 to support the two lawsuits.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Taxes

Until the mid-1990s, Walmart took out corporate-owned life insurance policies on its employees including "low-level" employees such as janitors, cashiers, and stockers. This type of insurance is usually purchased to cover a company against financial loss when a high-ranking employee (i.e. management) dies, and is usually known as "key person insurance". Critics derided Walmart as buying what they called "dead peasants insurance" or "janitor insurance". Critics, as well as the United States Internal Revenue Service, charge that the company was trying to profit from the deaths of its employees, and take advantage of the tax law which allowed it to deduct the premiums. The practice was stopped in the mid-1990s when the federal government closed the tax deduction and began to pursue Walmart for back taxes.<ref>Reynolds, Frank. "Walmart Gambled, Lost $1.3B on 'Dead Peasant' Policies, Insurers Say Template:Webarchive". Andrews Publications. September 8, 2005. Retrieved on September 29, 2006.</ref>

Animal welfare

Walmart committed in 2016 to only sourcing cage-free eggs by 2025.<ref name="FortuneEgg">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Modern Farmer">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The "cage-free" label is inconsistent in the U.S. and is not the same as "free-range".<ref name="NYT Gelles">Template:Cite news</ref>

On November 28, 2016, Paola Gaviño in coordination with the animal protection NGOs, The Humane League and Mercy For Animals, launched a multinational campaign to raise awareness of Walmart's failure to produce a policy to source 100% cage-free eggs throughout Latin America. Walmart has not committed to phasing out battery cages in Latin America as it has in the United States,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the United Kingdom,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Canada.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The campaign argues that battery cages are unnecessarily cruel and also increase the risk of food safety issues, including an increased risk of Salmonella contamination.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Midtown Walmart

Midtown Walmart was a proposal by Walmart to build a Template:Convert<ref name="herald2015">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> supercenter location on a Template:Convert site<ref name="newtimes">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> in the planned sub-district of Midtown Miami in the city of Miami, Florida, US.

Walmart's Midtown plan was rejected the first time in February 2013,<ref name="miamitoday">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> but was redesigned by Gensler<ref name="huffpost">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and approved by Miami Planning and Zoning Director Francisco Garcia in August 2013, then upheld on appeal by the City Commission in November 2013,<ref name="herald2015"/> Midtown Walmart faced public and political opposition from area residents, business owners, and community activists<ref name="bizbreak">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> after being adapted to meet strict zoning regulations that resulted in the design differing from the typical layout, such as utilizing second story roof parking versus a surface lot with more street liner retail spaces instead of a wall perimeter.<ref name="wlrn">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The original 2013 plan included 550 parking spaces on two levels above the Template:Convert store.<ref name="herald2012">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Walmart did build urban locations in Santurce, (downtown) San Juan, Puerto Rico, known as "Plaza 18",<ref name="elnuevodia">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="metro">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> as well as Washington, D.C., where the city's first Walmart is a true mixed-use development, with third party retail as well as 300 apartments above the store.<ref name="urban">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Walmart's plan in Midtown Miami was not an urban store, but rather a suburban-style Super Center with parking in two floors above the ground level, instead of in an open lot. If built, it would be the first traditional Walmart location within the City of Miami limits, although there are numerous locations just outside city limits in Doral, Hialeah, Gladeview, North Miami Beach, and Westchester, as well as a "Neighborhood Market" in the western fringes of the city.

Purchased in October 2011, the retailer closed on the sale in January 2014 for US$8.2 million,<ref name="TRDsept2015"/> the currently vacant site sits at the southern tip of Midtown between North Miami Avenue and Midtown Boulevard from Northeast 29th and 31st Streets, between the burgeoning neighborhoods of Wynwood and Edgewater.

File:Walmart Neighborhood Market in Miami.jpg

A Walmart Neighborhood Market in western fringes of the city

After two years of litigation, Walmart won their first court battle in August 2015.<ref name="herald2015"/> The litigation once again targeted the city's departure from the law by providing Walmart illegal zoning variances<ref name="TRDsept2015">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the illegal street re-configuration caused by the development which would contribute excessively to local traffic problems.<ref name="TRD2013">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The Midtown development contains a Target and a Ross.<ref name="curbedwars">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The Walmart broke ground with an illegal permit from the City of Miami in January 2016,<ref name="heraldbreak">Template:Cite news</ref> after a panel of state judges in the 3rd District Court of Appeals blocked a petition challenging the development.<ref name="cbsbreak">Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2016, Stern won a judgment<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref> against the City of Miami in a public records lawsuit related to Walmart's plan to build in Midtown Miami. That case proved Stern's claims that Walmart did not hold good title to all the land upon which they obtained a permit to build from the city. As a result, the City of Miami froze their permit and eventually, construction of the Walmart was involuntarily halted when the City revoked their foundation permit<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> on June 21, 2016, and construction ceased<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> at the site within the week, which is how Walmart's vacant Midtown site remains.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In September 2019, Walmart sold its land for $26.4 million.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Opioids settlement

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} On December 22, 2020, the United States Department of Justice filed an official complaint towards Walmart pharmacies for failing to comply with the Controlled Substances Act, by prescribing opioids and other restricted substances to its customers.<ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Under the presiding of former attorney general William Barr, the Walmart corporate and the United States Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration went to court in attempt to resolve the issue.<ref name=":2" /> Other pharmacies were also pulled into this legal case for similarly defying the Controlled Substances Act. Many large pharmaceutical companies, such as Walgreens, Sam's Club & CVS Pharmacy were included in this case.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Within the lawsuit, the United States Department of Justice argued that Walmart pressured pharmacists to refill as many prescriptions as fast as possible. They also argued that the all pharmacies in the United States have to comply with federal law before refilling a prescription. Walmart counter-argued that every individual pharmacist must make the decision to refill a prescription or not.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

After deliberations, the jury sided with the United States Department of Justice. All the companies involved were forced to pay a total of 3.1 billion dollars in restitution and damages, and were banned from dispensing opioids to consumers.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Walmart has had further trouble with the Drug Enforcement Agency as well. In November 2009, Walmart pharmacies faced a DEA investigation over Walmart's CSA compliance. In November 2011, Walmart entered an agreement with the DEA requiring certain changes and controls to ensure compliance with CSA. It was alleged that the company's board was not monitoring the DEA settlement and that the company "emphasized profits over compliance"<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>, and that there were many red flags regarding non-compliance. Several lawsuits followed. In 2017, Walmart was a defendant in a Opioid multidistrict litigation.

In 2021 and 2022, further lawsuits by shareholders alleged that Walmart had breached their duties of ensuring compliance with the CSA and DEA settlement. Walmart's motion to dismiss the settlement was denied.

On December 20, 2024, in the case Ontario Provincial Council of Carpenters’ Pension Trust Fund, et al. v. S. Robson Walton, et al. over the historical failure of Walmart to implement legally mandated controls, the Delaware Court of Chancery approved a settlement that included 123 million dollars and Walmart's guarantee to maintain practices for at least 5 years. The settlement is the second largest settlement in a derivative oversight case in Delaware history.

These lawsuits are some of the largest measures taken by the federal government against a company over the opioid crisis.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite news</ref>

See also

• "Hell Comes to Quahog"
• Imminent lawless action
• People of Walmart
• "Propane Boom"
• "Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes"
• Walmarting
• Whirl-Mart

External links

• Articles, studies and resources on Walmart on Reclaim Democracy
• "Discounting Rights: Walmart's Violation of US Workers' Right to Freedom of Association" Template:Webarchive
• "Is Walmart Good For America?" on Frontline, PBS
• "Walmart's Absurd Anti-Union Training Video Just Got Leaked". In These Times. May 20, 2015.
• Wal-Town documentary
• Making Change at Walmart (MCAW) - a campaign run by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) to change Walmart into a more responsible employer and to improve the lives of Walmart workers