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Wal-Mart to employees: shut up and put a bandage on it

I thought we covered all of Wal-Mart's major offenses in our feature last year, but apparently I was wrong. Adding to its growing record, Wal-Mart aggressively disputes workers' compensation claims; as the Portland Phoenix reports, in Maine Wal-Mart fights 94 percent of them.

Fighting valid workers' comp claims appears to be a cottage industry at Wal-Mart. By pressuring employees that can't afford health insurance, Wal-Mart can settle legitimate claims at a discount. Washington State suspended Wal-Mart's right to self-administer workers' comp claims because of findings similar to Maine's. If the retail giant doesn't have a similar record in other states, chances are it's because other states aren't checking.

Maybe we should change our t-shirts to read, "Sprawl-Mart: Always Lowering Settlements."