FILE – This May 28, 2013, file photo shows signage outside a Wal-Mart store in Duarte, Calif. The retail giant announced Wednesday, May 20, 2015 that it is expanding its Veterans Welcome Home Commitment program to hire 100,000 veterans by 2018 and to hire a total of 250,000 recently discharged veterans by 2020. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File) Judge says Wal-Mart violated wage laws
Wal-Mart could be on the hook for more than $100 million in back pay after a federal judge ruled the company failed to pay California minimum wage to truck drivers for activities that included inspecting and washing their trucks. The ruling came after the company argued that the drivers are paid for particular activities that include those tasks.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston sided with the drivers in her ruling, saying activities that are not compensated separately cannot be included in tasks that are paid for by the company.
“These guys are owed the money, so the sooner they get paid, the better,” attorney Butch Wagner, whose firm represents 720 past and current Wal-Mart drivers, said Wednesday.
Wal-Mart spokesman Randy Hargrove said the Arkansas-based company will keep fighting the wage claim. Its drivers are among the best paid in the industry, with some making more than $100,000 a year, he said.
An Amazon.com package awaits delivery from UPS in Palo Alto, Calif. Amazon on Thursday said it is raising the price of its popular Prime membership to $99 per year, an increase of $20. It’s the first price increase since the online retailer introduced its Prime membership program in 2005.Amazon adds Dallas fulfillment facility
Amazon.com Inc. says it will open a new site in Dallas, its fourth fulfillment center in Texas.
Amazon.com official Mike Roth said Wednesday the agreement announced will create hundreds of full-time jobs. Workers at the Dallas center will process smaller items such as books, electronics and consumer goods for the e-commerce giant.
The joint venture also involves Clarion Partners and Trammell Crow Company.
Seattle-based Amazon.com operates fulfillment centers in Chattanooga and Charleston, Tenn., among five such Tennessee centers.
Georgia sells bonds with AAA rating
Georgia has maintained its AAA bond rating and sold $1.28 billion in three different series of general obligation bonds to fund capital projects throughout the state, which range from construction on new university buildings to repairs on state bridges. A portion of these sales will also refund outstanding bonds to achieve savings.
The state acquired rates of 1.21 percent for the five-year tax-exempt bonds, 1.93 percent for the 10-year tax-exempt bonds and 3.08 percent for the 20-year tax-exempt bonds, with a blended rate of 2.98 percent for the tax-exempt bonds.
The Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission (GSFIC), which is responsible for issuing the bonds, approved the sale at its meeting Wednesday. The largest amount of funding will provide $288 million for the University System of Georgia, followed by $202 million for projects related to K-12 schools. The Technical College System of Georgia will receive $93 million for various projects located throughout the state.
Blue Bell ice cream rests on a grocery store shelf in Lawrence, Kan., in this April 10, 2015, file photo.Blue Bell lists listeria causes
Blue Bell Creameries believes the listeria found at its Oklahoma facility is likely linked to a non-sanitary room, though the company has not been able to pinpoint a single source for the contamination at its Texas plant, according to a report released Wednesday.
The Texas-company submitted information about how it plans to correct the problems to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which inspected Blue Bell plants after the company’s ice cream was linked to listeria illnesses in four states and three deaths in Kansas.
The documents, released by the FDA in response to an open records request by The Associated Press, also confirm that surface areas tested at an Alabama plant turned up the most serious form of listeria. No illnesses have been linked to products made at that facility.
Blue Bell stopped production at its plant in Brenham and at facilities in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma and Alabama after issuing a national recall in April. The contaminated products have been found at the company’s Texas and Oklahoma plants.