Settling Minnesota suit for $54.3 million saves Wal-Mart money

Wal-Mart “saved money” and — to further shoplift from the discount retail mega-chain’s current advertising slogan — its executives will probably “live better” after today’s $54.3 million settlement of a Minnesota class action lawsuit. The Dakota County District Court case involved allegations that Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores denied wages for training time and didn’t provide as many as 100,000 Minnesota employees over a 10-year period with adequate rest and meal breaks.

But by Bloomberg News’ account, the deal helped Wal-Mart avoid a potentially much bigger price tag of $2 billion which could have followed from an order Judge Robert King Jr. issued in the case last summer.