The Reason 2 Former Employees Are Suing Walmart

Walmart is one of the most popular grocery store chains, with over 11,000 stores worldwide, and an average of 265 million customers weekly, per Capital Counselor. They estimate that Walmart employs roughly 2.2 million workers, 40% of which are part-time.

Philadelphia's Fair Workweek Law, which went into effect in 2020, protects service, hospitality, and retail workers' rights to consistent hours, allowing employees adequate time to plan their lives around work. The law states that workers must be given 10 days' notice in the event of a shift change, and employers must pay a premium if the schedule is changed after that deadline. Additionally, workers have the right to refuse additional hours that are not on the posted schedule, and existing employees must be offered available shifts before new employees can be hired. In order to ensure adequate time off to rest, employees must be given nine hours between scheduled shifts. Now, Walmart is being sued by two former employees over alleged violations of this law, and they aren't the first chain store to face consequences.

Two former Walmart employees, Donald Washington and Symone Wilder, are suing the retail giant for failure to provide regular, predictable scheduling, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer, which violates the Fair Workweek Law.

Washington and Wilder worked at a Philadelphia Walmart as hourly employees, according to the Inquirer. Washington, who worked as a Walmart manager from May 2021 to June 2022, would reportedly experience schedule changes mid-shift without being notified ahead of time, creating conflict in finding childcare for his son. He also was reportedly scheduled for shifts with only a six-hour window between them. Wilder was employed by Walmart from April 2018 to September 2021, and also faced difficulties obtaining childcare due to her work hours, per the Inquirer.

Walmart isn't the first retail giant to violate this law — in September 2021, Target paid out $22,450 to nearly 70 employees for similar scheduling issues, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. They report that the Target employees' schedules would be ready ahead of the required two-week deadline, but that the store management would delay approving and posting it, breaking the law.