Wal-Mart and Department of Labor, Together At Last

The U.S. Department of Labor recently signed an agreement with Wal-Mart to notify them 15 days in advance of any investigation they intend to make on labor violations, to allow Wal-Mart ample time to correct the problem. Oh, and they fined Wal-Mart $130K for breaking child labor laws -- for example, allowing minor employees to operate chainsaws. Also,

Several federal employees voiced concern about a Jan. 10 e-mail message sent by the director of the Little Rock, Ark., office for the Labor Department's wage and hour division after the settlement was reached, that said, "Wage & Hour will not open an investigation of Wal-Mart without first notifying Wal-Mart's main office and allowing them an opportunity to look at the alleged violations and, if valid, correct the problem."

Incidentally, this article is an excellent example of the perils of only reading the headlines. The headline says "Wal-Mart agrees to Pay Fine In Child Labor Cases" but the article is about the fine, the fact that the settlement with DOL was reached a month ago but not disclosed to the public, and, most especially, that the agreement includes provisions that several federal employees have complained are there to allow Wal-Mart to continue violating labor laws.