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The $7,000 fine from OSHA was for the trampling death of a Wal-Mart employee , crushed by a surging mob of customers outside a Long Island Wal-Mart the day after Thanksgiving, 2008.

The company claims it's acting on principle...

Here's the short story if you're interested...

Wal-Mart spends millions to fight $7K fine

Do you think walmart is doing the right thing?

I'm not sure Walmart is ever doing the right thing - it's how they remain Walmart. Do I think they'll succeed? I'm not sure. For as much as Uncle Sam unfairly protects big companies when they're hurting, he loves knocking them down a peg whenever he gets a chance just as much. Walmart could use a healthy dose of ethics. They pretty much symbolize exploitative business practices in every sense.

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I wouldn't say that.

Look Wally-Mart sells junk products to poor people. It's a kind jesture. To accomplish that it takes a different business plan than what would be used to sell top quality items at fair prices. Don't blame Wally, blame the people who go there. If Wally had no customers they wouldn't still be in business.

To be fair, Wal-Mart doesn’t sell junk products.  They sell the same brand products you find in any other store.  But, Wal-Mart is able to reduce cost in two ways.  First, Wal-Mart has substantially reduced their labor cost by paying low wages and not providing benefits to most employees.  Second, Wal-Mart buys products in such large quantities it gets huge price breaks on the products it buys.

However, I have a problem with Wal-Mart’s stand on the issue at hand.  They let an employee stand directly in front of the doors as he unlocked the doors.  In my opinion, they should have had someone working crowd control before the doors were unlocked. 

And, David Tovar comments that there are no "OSHA standards to address this issue are way off base.  He obviously has not read “Clause 5” in the OSHA regs.  Clause 5 allows a safety inspector to declare an act unsafe even if it’s not specifically list in the OSHA regs.

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