Wal-Mart hires Justice Scalia's son for whistle-blower suits

[ElsewheresDaughter]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/07/10/MNGHADLKRV1.DTL&type=printable



Washington -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., trying to fend off lawsuits claiming it illegally fired corporate whistle-blowers, has hired the former chief lawyer for the Department of Labor, Eugene Scalia, and has begun to fire back at its accusers.

Three former employees claim they were fired for reporting misdeeds within the company, including relying on Latin American suppliers who forced women to take pregnancy tests and using staff members at a Texas optical laboratory to do car repairs for supervisors.

Wal-Mart denies it retaliated against the employees, but the allegations challenge a pillar of the company's corporate culture -- a guarantee that its 1.2 million U.S. employees can complain about any supervisor without fear of retribution. That promise, known as the "open door policy," could be seriously undermined if the employees win their cases, lawyers said.

The company said all three -- Jared Bowen, a former Wal-Mart vice president; James Lynn, a mid-level manager at Wal-Mart who oversaw inspections of Wal-Mart suppliers in Central and Latin America; and Rickey Armstrong, a quality control auditor at Wal-Mart's optical laboratory in Dallas -- were fired for misconduct, not for sniffing out wrongdoing. Lawyers for the employees say the retailer is taking a hardball approach -- disclosing potentially damaging allegations about the workers' conduct early in the legal process.

It has accused Lynn of fraternizing with a female subordinate, Armstrong of failing to disclose a felony conviction on his job application, and Bowen of doctoring a college transcript on a job application.

<snip>

"Only in Wal-Mart's America can they think it's right to hire Eugene Scalia to defend them against the same whistle-blower law he was supposed to help enforce at the Department of Labor," said Chris Kofinis, a spokesman for Wake Up Wal-Mart. The group is closely linked to the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which has tried to organize Wal-Mart's nonunion labor force.

Scalia defended his role, saying, "I don't see anything unusual in a company seeking out the expertise of somebody who became familiar with the requirements of a new law, while serving as a federal law enforcement official. "


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[acmavm]

1. Those Scalia boys. Never ones to pass up an opportunity and screw

the little guy in the process.

[Pallas180]

2. dontcha just love it, Rehnquist's daughter, Cheney's daughter,

now Scalia, and who knows how many daughters and sons of congresscritters are lobbyists?

nothing like a little nepotism.

If they really wanted to do something for their country they all ought to go to Iraq!

[Voltaire99]

10. Scum runs in the family. (nt)

[anitar1]

12. You got that right--scum. n/t

[mom cat]

3. Remember the flack the repukes gave Kofi Annan's son for so much less?

[Auntie Bush]

4. Will CJ Scalia recuse himself if Walmart or an employee ever takes

a case to the SC? If he is Chief Justice...who would take his place?
If the court was evenly divided 3-3...that could prove interesting!

[TahitiNut]

5. "without fear of retribution" doesn't mean without retribution

They're only saying there's no point to the fear. Anyone that doesn't think corporations don't retaliate against whistleblowers has their head up their ass.

[applegrove]

6. This is how it works. By giving the kids of the 'old men in power' passes

into their special elite world.. they are in fact getting remuneration for their thinking.

[applegrove]

7. This is how it works. By giving the kids of the 'old men in power' passes

into their special elite world.. they are in fact getting remuneration for their thinking.

[Doremus]

8. Isn't that special. Wal-Mart and Scalia in the same thread.

I think I may barf.

[TaleWgnDg]

9. No. No. Wait. Wait. Wait. There's irony here?

.
No. No. Wait. Wait. Wait. There's irony here?

Isn't it ironic that Associate Justice Antonin Scalia (I love to call him "Pope Scalia") who is known for pompously pushing his "originalism" brand of interpreting the U.S. constitution. Said "originalism" (invented around 1950ish) plants America back into the days of 1789 (the time of the "Framers"). That is, sans all government regulation to check, balance and/or counter corporations. Indeed. Which is why corporate America LOVES Scalia (and Bush, too).

Wait. There's more. Justice Scalia's kid, Eugene Scalia (attorney-at-law), headed up America's largest labor "law firm," i.e., the U.S. Department of Labor, Legal Department. Think about it. Eugene Scalia is more to the right than is his father (is this possible?) and Eugene Scalia headed up the workingman's labor "law firm." After all, the Labor Department was put in place, originally, in order to regulate corporations and to enforce federal labor laws.

Now, Eugene gets hired by, guess who? Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart, who is known for trammeling the rights of the workingman/woman in America and internationally too. Wal-Mart hires Eugene Scalia in order to bludgeon the federal whistle-blower laws! The very same laws that Eugene Scalia was supposed to uphold to protect working men and women against corporations. Irony?

Geezuz. Have these Scalias no scruples? No morals? No character? No heart? Just wallets? And stock portfolios? Together with a power trip?




"Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." - Lord Acton (1887)

"Scalia brought the house down by jokingly denying any ambitions to be chief justice himself. He would rather be pope, he quipped, according to witnesses." ("Ex-clerks of Rehnquist Honor Ailing Chief at Bittersweet Gala," by Charles Lane, Washington Post, as appeared in The Boston Globe, last paragraph, June 19, 2005, http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/06/19/ex_clerks_of_rehnquist_honor_ailing_chief_at_bittersweet_gala/ )



.

[WhiteTara]

11. Ecuadorian inmates protest nationwide

And on the other side of the world it is even more desperate

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=TopNews&article=UPI-1-20050623-22592900-bc-ecuador-prisons.xml

QUITO, Ecuador, June 23 (UPI) -- Inmates in Ecuadorian prisons are mutilating themselves to bring attention to the demands for better living conditions.
El Comercio newspaper reported in its online edition Thursday that one man voluntarily let himself be crucified. The images were shown on Ecuadorian television.

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[MaineDem]

13. I believe this is old news

I read it here weeks ago.

[Javaman]

14. Scalia defended his role, saying...

"I don't see anything unusual in a company seeking out the expertise of somebody (and pay me bucket loads of money!!!!) who became familiar with the requirements of a new law, while serving as a federal law enforcement official. "

[TroglodyteScholar]

15. Brazen n/t