A decade-old lawsuit accusing Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of violating federal labor laws on overtime pay began a new round of federal court hearings Tuesday in Denver, with attorneys for both sides fighting over how to react to a key decision earlier this year.
The hearings spotlight a 1995 suit by three Colorado pharmacists, claiming the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer improperly deprived them of overtime pay. By early 1997, it had grown to a class-action lawsuit covering about 900 pharmacists around the country who said they were owed overtime pay and damages for times the company shifted their hours and salaries.
Before the case went to trial, U.S. District Judge Zita Weinshienk ruled in the pharmacists’ favor in August 1999, saying Wal-Mart’s compensation system circumvented federal rules by classifying pharmacists as salaried employees ineligible for overtime pay.
The Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in February said the judge had failed to consider evidence about Labor Department rulings that companies can adjust salaried employees’ pay if economic conditions warrant.
WASHINGTON
Health-care firms told to give billing records
HCA Inc., the biggest U.S. hospital chain, No. 2 Tenet Healthcare Corp. and eight nonprofit operators are being asked by a U.S. House committee to provide records in an investigation of hospital billing practices.
The request expands an investigation that began two years ago and led to a hearing on Capitol Hill in June on differences in billing for patients who have health insurance and the uninsured, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee said in a statement Tuesday.
The 10 hospital operators, including Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives, were asked to explain how they list charges on patient bills, particularly for those without insurance. The panel also wants to know how hospital rates affect patients and insurers, and is examining the clarity and accuracy of bills.
NEW YORK
Cablevision chairman backs off board plan
Charles Dolan, the founder and chairman of Cablevision Systems Corp., is backing off an earlier plan to shrink the size of the company’s board and to elect three-quarters of its directors.
According to a regulatory filing made Tuesday, Dolan told the company’s board at a meeting on Friday that he no longer plans to exercise his right to elect 75 percent of the company’s board at its annual meeting next month.
In January, Cablevision announced plans to shut down its Voom satellite television service’s and sell its main satellite to Douglas County-based EchoStar Communications Corp.
DENVER
Building wins pact for beer bottling plant
Swinerton Builders has been selected to provide preconstruction and construction services for a 76,000-square-foot bottling and packaging plant expansion for New Belgium Brewing Co. in Fort Collins, the contractor said Tuesday.
The plant will include an assembly line, cold storage, warehouse and shipping dock.
DENVER
Freshies Food secures funds for expansion
Freshies Food Corp., a producer of all-natural, nonalcoholic drink mixers, announced Tuesday that it secured additional funding from Florida-based NVNG LLC, a venture capital firm.
With this investment, Freshies has expanded the size of its Denver manufacturing facility as well as its production capabilities. The amount of the investment was not disclosed.
GREENWOOD VILLAGE
Crown Media gets OK to sell global business
Crown Media Holdings Inc., owner and operator of the Hallmark Channel, announced Tuesday that it received the necessary regulatory approvals and has completed the sale of its international business.
Crown announced the sale of the unit in February to a group of investors comprising Providence Equity Partners, 3i and U.K. television executive David Elstein.
NEW YORK
Arthur Andersen suit settles for $65 million
A federal judge gave preliminary approval Tuesday to a deal under which auditor Arthur Andersen LLP will pay $65 million to settle allegations it failed to protect investors from WorldCom’s historic accounting fraud.
The settlement brings to a close a class-action lawsuit by investors that also laid blame on 12 former directors of WorldCom and major investment banks that underwrote WorldCom securities.
WASHINGTON
FCC chief questions pay-radio regulations
The top U.S. communications regulator said applying broadcast-indecency rules to paid- subscription entertainment services, such as satellite radio, may violate the Constitution.
The FCC has never “explicitly addressed” the issue of indecency on satellite radio, which charges a monthly subscription fee, and U.S. indecency law refers to radio without specifying the type, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin told House lawmakers at a hearing Tuesday.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.
Defense: Scrushy outside fraud zone
Defense lawyers tried literally to distance Richard Scrushy from a huge earnings overstatement at HealthSouth Corp. on Tuesday by showing his office wasn’t near those of lower-level workers who made thousands of fraudulent accounting entries.
Going through a list of 11 one-time HealthSouth executives implicated in the scheme, defense attorney Jim Parkman repeatedly asked FBI agent Gerry Kelly whether their offices were on the fifth floor, where Scrushy’s suite was located.
ELSEWHERE
Lockheed Martin, Tyco, Martha Stewart
Donald G. DeGryse, vice president of Lockheed Martin’s space-based radar program in Denver, has been named the 2005 Honor Alumnus for Colorado State University’s College of Natural Sciences. … Prosecutors rested their fraud and larceny case against former Tyco International Ltd. chief executive L. Dennis Kozlowski and his ex-finance chief Tuesday after 13 weeks of testimony. … Martha Stewart plans to introduce this year a line of home videos aimed at teaching everything from how to throw a party and plant a vegetable garden to pet care and flower arrangements. … Amazon.com Inc. started selling Macy’s products, expanding offerings from department stores as sales growth slows.
