Legal

After cutting ties with Illinios and Texas, Amazon is now looking to turn its back on California too, after Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that would enforce the collection of online sales tax.

The Retail Industry Leaders Association criticized a final rule released by the Federal Reserve as failing to honor the intent of the bipartisan reforms passed by Congress. The rule, which guides implementation of the debit swipe fee reforms, is a startling departure from rules that the Federal Reserve proposed in December and will ultimately prevent the intended relief from reaching merchants and consumers.

BJ's Wholesale Club is officially going private, the company announced. Two private equity firms, Leonard Green & Partners LP and funds advised by CVC Capital Partners, have agreed to an all-cash transaction worth an estimated $2.8 billion.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) has introduced the Postal Reform Act of 2011. The USPS is looking forward to working with Issa as the bill makes its way through the legislative process.

Women's apparel retailer Deb Shops filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a Delaware court as part of a financial restructuring in which the company will be sold to a group of senior lenders. Ableco Finance LLC entered into a "stalking horse" agreement to acquire the retailer's assets.

While bad news around the economy continues to pile up — a plunging stock market, troublesome unemployment, a soft housing market, national debt that's out of control — the e-commerce industry seems unaffected. E-commerce sales are steadily rising and for many cross-channel retailers the channel is a bright spot in an otherwise dark place. This mood was certainly reflected at IRCE, where people were upbeat with where they were at and optimistic about their future.

Wal-Mart has spent 10 years fighting claims that it discriminated against female employees, but the Supreme Court victory for the company may not mean the end to litigation over discrimination claims.

An Apple store employee has started a drive to unionize retail workers of the company. Cory Moll, a part-time employee at an Apple store in San Francisco, is working to form a union to fight for better wages and benefits and to address what he says are unfair practices.

Best Buy has reportedly agreed to pay $10.2 million in a settlement related to a job discrimination class-action lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed in 2005 in U.S. District Court in Northern California, alleged that the retailer discriminated against women, African-American and Latino employees by denying them promotions and more lucrative sales positions.

Growth in retail crime and fraud is leaving retailers racing to stop the individuals responsible for stealing billions of dollars each year. Preliminary results of the latest National Retail Security Survey, released at the National Retail Federation’s Loss Prevention Conference and EXPO, show that retail shrinkage increased to 1.58 percent of retail sales in 2010, up from 1.44 percent in 2009.