Legal

A new lawsuit from Tri Huynh, a former Walmart business development executive, claims that the retailer is inflating its e-commerce sales numbers in the race to close the gap between itself and its chief rival, Amazon.com. The suit, filed this week in Northern California federal court, alleges that Walmart has been lowering its standards to boost…

In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Joe Keenan and Caitlin Sullivan discuss the hot-button issue of online sales tax, which has been in the news recently since the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of South Dakota v. Wayfair Inc. South Dakota is seeking the authority to collect sales tax for…

Walking Co. Holdings Inc., seller of of Birkenstock, ABEO, Merrell and other brands of comfortable shoes, filed for bankruptcy in Delaware, blaming the loss of a key contract for UGG boots for its second restructuring. The company and its affiliates, FootSmart Inc. and sportswear apparel maker Big Dog USA Inc., also filed for bankruptcy in 2009, saying it needed…

The Trump administration on Monday said states should be able to require online retailers to collect sales taxes, backing an appeal by South Dakota at the U.S. Supreme Court that could mean billions of dollars in revenue for state coffers. South Dakota is asking the justices to overturn a 1992 Supreme Court ruling that companies with no…

For online retailers, few issues are as confusing and cumbersome as understanding sales tax obligations in various states. Most companies either try to find an automated solution or stick their heads in the sand and hope for the best. In the face of this complexity, the Supreme Court recently agreed to hear South Dakota v.…

As a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which went into effect at the beginning of this year, a slew of marquee American businesses, like Home Depot, FedEx, Walmart and Disney, among many others, found themselves with new cash on hand and were prompted to reward their employees. Some companies paid their employees…

Sears Holdings Corp. CEO Edward Lampert said the struggling department store chain is “fighting like hell” — and that includes its dealings with the state of Illinois, public records show. The Chicago Tribune reports the company threatened legal action in a months-long battle over $14.8 million in state tax credits Sears believed it earned in 2016…

In the past two years, dozens of states, municipalities and cities have considered legislation that requires businesses that hire hourly workers, like retail stores and restaurants, to provide extra pay to employees for last-minute work schedule changes. Several major cities have enacted such measures into law, including New York City, San Francisco and Seattle. Predictive…

A woman in California has filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart over claims the company keeps products primarily used by African-Americans inside a locked glass case. Essie Grundy told reporters in Los Angeles on Friday that she felt humiliated and discriminated against when on three occasions this month she had to ask a store employee at…

Abercrombie & Fitch has agreed to pay $25 million to settle claims by workers that the New Albany, Ohio-based retailer forced them to buy its clothing to wear to work and didn’t reimburse them. The settlement covers about a quarter-million current and former Abercrombie and Hollister hourly workers in California, Florida, New York and Massachusetts, according…