Wal-Mart spends $2 million fighting OSHA stampede fine
On Black Friday, 2008, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. employee Jdimytai Damour died when an estimated 2,000 customers stormed the store shortly before it was scheduled to open. Now Wal-Mart has spent a reported $2 million trying to avoid a $7,000 fine from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) over the incident.
The fight is more about principle than monetary damages, obviously. According to The New York Times, the retail chain had already agreed to a settlement with the district attorney of Nassau County, New York, where the stampede occurred, creating a $400,000 fund to compensate those injured in the incident and donating $1.5 million to county programs. The company also agreed to implement new crowd control measures in its 92 New York state stores.
