Walmart Inc.

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found Walmart engaged in illegal union-busting activity at a California store (2024); workers attempting to organize were subject to retaliatory conduct in violation of the National Labor Relations Act; pattern consistent with documented history of systematic union suppression across US operations

National Opioids Settlement (nationalopioidsettlement.com) - Dispenser/Pharmacy chain; $3.1B settlement over 6 years (finalized Dec 2022); failed to regulate opioid prescriptions, filled prescriptions that should have been flagged as suspicious, disregarded internal data about prescription patterns

Walmart's cumulative environmental penalties exceed $110 million across federal and state enforcement actions. In 2013 the company pleaded guilty to six counts of violating the Clean Water Act and paid $81.6 million in combined criminal fines and civil penalties for systematically dumping hazardous materials at retail stores across the United States. The DOJ found that prior to January 2006 Walmart had no program for proper hazardous waste disposal and failed to train employees, resulting in hazardous waste being poured into local sewer systems at the store level. Between 2006 and 2008 Walmart sent approximately 2 million pounds of damaged pesticide containers and other hazardous products to a third-party facility that lacked necessary permits, causing releases of hazardous substances. Separately, California's Attorney General secured a $7.5 million settlement in 2022 for Walmart's continued illegal disposal of hazardous waste and medical waste to municipal landfills.

In April 2022 the FTC imposed a $3 million penalty on Walmart for falsely marketing dozens of rayon textile products as bamboo-based and eco-friendly. The combined $5.5 million in penalties against Walmart and Kohl's was the largest greenwashing penalty the FTC had ever assessed. On climate targets, Walmart set goals in 2020 to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions 35% by 2025 and 65% by 2030 from a 2015 baseline. By end of 2023 the company had achieved only a 19.3% reduction while operational emissions rose 3.91% year-over-year. Walmart acknowledged in its 2024 reporting that it would miss both the 2025 and 2030 targets.