Workers Awarded $20 Million

A jury awarded $20 million to four former employees of a Wal-Mart store after deciding the company unfairly fired them for eating damaged nuts and candy.

Each of the four workers was awarded $1 million for slander, $1 million for embarrassment and mental anguish, and $3 million in punitive damages in the decision Friday.

Virginia Stringer, Reual Ed Angel, Donnie Brummett and Tina Sparks all were nearing their seven-year anniversaries at the store when they were fired in 1995.

All were confronted by management with videotaped evidence they had eaten cashews and breath mints from packages that had been damaged in shipping, said their attorney, Larry Rogers.

Torn or damaged snack packages cannot be sold at retail and the manufacturer doesn’t want them back, Rogers said.

Wal-Mart claimed that the four violated a company pilferage policy.