Case Updates
Wal-Mart settles California wage and hour class action involving meal breaks
October 07, 2009
U.S. Chamber files amicus brief
July 16, 2009
NCLC urged a California appeals court to vacate and remand a wage and hour class action with instructions to decertify the class. A California jury had awarded a class of 116,000 Wal-Mart workers $57 million in compensatory damages and $115 million in punitive damages for missed meal breaks. In its brief, NCLC argued that the class certification violated the procedural guarantees of federal due process because it denied Wal-Mart the opportunity to present meaningful individualized defense on liability to the various claims asserted. Moreover, NCLC argued that the arbitrariness of the punitive damage award violated the federal constitutional guarantee of substantive due process.