Wal-Mart Spends Millions Challenging $7,000 Fine

(NewsCore) - Retail giant Wal-Mart has spent millions of dollars over the past year challenging a $7,000 federal fine over the death of a temporary employee at a New York store -- as the business faces another lawsuit in Colorado over the medical care of injured workers, it emerged Tuesday.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the world’s largest retailer in May 2009 for inadequate crowd management after the November 28, 2008, death of Jdimytai Damour at its Wal-Mart store in Valley Stream, NY, FOXNews.com reported.

Damour had been working for Wal-Mart for about a week when he was trampled to death by a crowd of 2,000 shoppers who broke down the store’s doors in search of bargains at a post-Thanksgiving sales blitz.

The 34-year-old Queens man died of asphyxiation. Eleven others, including a pregnant woman, were injured.
While the $7,000 fine is pittance for Wal-Mart the company said the OSHA was not playing fair and the fine could lead to damaging consequences.

"OSHA wants to hold Walmart accountable for a standard that was neither proposed nor issued at the time of the incident," Wal-Mart spokesman Greg Rossiter said in a written statement. "The citation has far-reaching implications for the retail industry that could subject retailers to unfairly harsh penalties and restrictions on future sales promotions."

Officials at the Labor Department have reportedly complained that, over the past five months, they have used resources equivalent to five full-time lawyers -- or 17 percent of the attorney hours in their New York office -- in fighting the case against Wal-Mart.

The case ended last Wednesday but a ruling is not due for at least 60 days and is not expected until early 2011.

Tony Ciuffo, a spokesman for the Long Island office of the Occupational Safety & Health Administration, told FoxNews.com that he could not comment on reports that officials were consumed by the case.

He said the agency fined Wal-Mart under a section in the OSHA Act that says an employer is obligated to "keep (the) workplace free from recognized hazards that are likely to cause death or serious physical harm."

Wal-Mart is facing another costly legal challenge in Colorado, where a class-action lawsuit accuses the retailer of conspiring to limit medical care for injured employees in a bid to save money, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The lawsuit alleges Wal-Mart broke state and federal laws by using a subsidiary to control the treatment for employees with workplace injuries. Wal-Mart sent the injured workers to clinics run by Concentra Inc., which operates 300 medical centers and 250 workplace clinics in 40 states.

The suit, filed last year in the U.S. District Court for Colorado on behalf of roughly 7,000 current and former Wal-Mart employees in the state, accuses Wal-Mart, Concentra and insurer American Home Assurance Co., part of American International Group Inc., of conspiring to violate a Colorado workers compensation law that bars companies from dictating medical care for workers hurt on the job.

Lawyers for Wal-Mart, Concentra and American Home deny the allegations. "The health and wellness of our associates is important to Wal-Mart, and we want our associates to get the best treatment and care," said spokesman Greg Rossiter.

Lawyers for the Wal-Mart employees suggested the retailer could face similar legal action in other states, such as New York, Texas, Wisconsin, Arizona, Iowa, and Oklahoma, which likewise bar companies from dictating injured workers' care.

"The motivation here is clearly to save Wal-Mart money," said Solomon B. Cera, a San Francisco attorney on the legal team representing the plaintiffs.