Nine Mexican immigrants, who were among 250 people arrested for being illegal immigrants in an Oct. 23 federal raid on 60 Wal-Marts in 21 states, have sued the company. In their lawsuit the workers accuse Wal-Mart and its cleaning contractors of failing to pay overtime, withhold taxes and make required workers' compensation contributions as well as discriminating against them by giving them lower wages and fewer benefits than other workers because of their national origin. The lawsuit alleges that Wal-Mart deliberately employed certain cleaning contractors because they knew these contractors would pay the illegal immigrants far less than they would have paid legal workers. A spokeswoman for Wal-Mart has said that the company did not know its contractors used illegal immigrants and was unaware of any labor violations that the cleaning contractors are accused of.
See "9 Immigrants Arrested In Raid File Lawsuit Against Wal-Mart", Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times, November 6, 2003