Not only could Walmart ultimately pay up to $14 million to thousands of Guard and Reserve members, but it has also changed its policy effective 2021 to increase the paid military leave benefit during shorter-term military duties.
And the decision could impact other employers as well, legislative director of the Reserve Officers Association Kevin Hollinger told Military Times.
This could have an incredible ripple effect in the US!
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The original lawsuit was filed on December 31st by reservist, Nickolas Tsui who alleges Walmart violated his rights under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act by not providing full paid leace when he took a short-term military leave. (Tsui is a current employee of Sam's Club.)
Short term military leaves last fewer than 30 consecutive days.
Walmart has never provided fully paid leave to employees who have taken short-term military leave of three days or less, according to the lawsuit.
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According to the new policy, when a Walmart employee takes more than 30 days of military leave in a calendar year, the employee may be eligible for differential pay for the additional days of military leave the difference between their Walmart pay and their military pay, if their Walmart pay is greater than their military pay for up to 12 months.
“We are pleased to be providing these extra military leave benefits in connection with this settlement,” said senior vice president for U.S. benefits at Walmart Adam Stavisky said in a announcement.
“We have a history of supporting our members of the military and veterans, and over the last seven years alone have hired more than 320,000 veterans and military spouses. We remain committed to their success with Walmart.”
(Walmart denies liability or wrongdoing of any kind associated with the allegations.)