In a ruling Tuesday from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the court upheld a 2007 judgment against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) that will require the firm to pay $188 million in back pay and fees for a class-action lawsuit first filed in 2002. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company said that charges related to this ruling will be approximately $0.06 per share in the fourth quarter, if it does not appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court by the end of the quarter.

When Walmart reported third-quarter earnings in mid-November, the company estimated fourth-quarter earnings per share in the range of $1.46 to $1.56. According to the SEC filing, the hit to earnings was not included in the company’s estimate. The consensus estimate of earnings per share from 25 analysts is $1.53, according to Thomson Reuters.

The company has not decided whether to appeal the ruling. The 2007 ruling included an award of back pay plus penalties, attorneys’ fees and interest. Walmart succeeded in having the attorneys’ fee portion of the judgment reversed in 2011, but the remaining parts of the judgment were affirmed.

In the class-action suit, 187,000 Walmart employees who worked in Pennsylvania stores between 1998 and 2006 claimed that the company failed to pay them for all hours worked and prevented them from taking proper meal and rest breaks.

Walmart has argued that the claims should not be grouped together in a class-action suit. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Walmart in a similar case in 2011. In that instance the court agreed with the company that there was no convincing proof of discrimination on pay and promotions in a suit brought on behalf of 1.6 million women from across the United States. The court’s ruling was based on a determination that Walmart employed too many women in too many different kinds of jobs to have a single lawsuit cover them all. That appears to be the tack the company is considering to use in the current case as well.

Walmart’s shares were down fractionally at $83.92 in early afternoon trading, within a 52-week range of $72.27 to $88.09.

ALSO READ: Strikes, Protests Hit 1,600 Walmart Stores

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.