Latest Retail Headlines

All the headlines from our Retail Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Wave of Lawsuits Hits Calif. Retail Stores

Jun 20 2011 // Retail store operators may want to sit down for this one — if they can find a chair. Nearly every national chain is under legal attack in California for failing to provide “suitable seating” for cashiers...

Supreme Court Denies Huge Sex Bias Class Action Against Wal-Mart

Jun 20 2011 // The Supreme Court rejected a mammoth class-action lawsuit charging sex discrimination at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Monday in a ruling that could affect major cases in other industries.The justices unanimously overturned a...

U.S. Retailers Report Rise in Organized Crime, Cargo Theft

Jun 20 2011 // Sophisticated technology, less staff at stores and more gang activity are all contributing to more U.S. stores being hit by organized crime, according to a survey by an industry group.Of 129 retailers, primarily national...

Eye on the Local Managing General Agency

May 16 2011 // Sometimes bigger is not always better. Large wholesale organizations have a place in the market, but smaller and often family-owned managing general agencies (MGA) also have a place, says Wayne Forest, the incoming...

Wal-Mart Facing Job Bias Suit from Fired Cuban Warehouse Workers

May 11 2011 // Former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. warehouse workers of Cuban origin may pursue a lawsuit accusing the world’s largest retailer of discrimination, and of firing them when they complained about their treatment.Monday’s...

Ohio Work Comp Bureau Offering Safety Grants to Wholesale, Retail Employers

Apr 21 2011 // Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) Administrator/CEO Stephen Buehrer has announced a grant program to reduce or eliminate occupational injuries and illnesses in the wholesale/retail trade sector.As part of...

Supreme Court Justices Question Major Class Action Against Wal-Mart

Mar 29 2011 // Supreme Court justices sharply questioned Tuesday whether more than a million female employees can join together against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in the largest class-action sex-discrimination lawsuit in history.The justices...

Kiln, Lockton Team Up to Offer Cyber Coverage to UK Retailers

Mar 2 2011 // Lloyd’s insurer Kiln and international broker Lockton have teamed up to offer cyber insurance to small- and medium-sized online retailers. “The security and privacy cover is being made available to members of...

Michigan Judge Rules Wal-Mart Can Fire Employee for Marijuana Use

Feb 16 2011 // Michigan law legalizing medical marijuana doesn’t stop private businesses from firing people for drug use, a federal judge said in dismissing a lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc.U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker...

2010 Ends with a Bang

Jan 24 2011 // Following a year of historically low merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in 2009, market, economic and political dynamics fueled the fourth most active year of M&A activity in the past 11 years, and the busiest...

Europe Weather Ruins Christmas for Airlines, Retailers

Dec 21 2010 // Snow and freezing temperatures grounded flights across northern Europe on Tuesday, while retailers fretted they would struggle to make up sales lost due to bad weather with just four shopping days to Christmas.Eurocontrol,...

Wal-Mart Court Order Freezes Class Actions

Dec 9 2010 // The class action landscape changed in an instant when the U.S. Supreme Court decided to review a mammoth sex discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc.Even though a ruling likely will not come for months, some...

Supreme Court to Hear Wal-Mart Sex-Bias Class Action Certification

Dec 6 2010 // The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it would decide if the largest sex-discrimination class-action lawsuit in U.S. history against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. can proceed, a case involving women workers who seek billions of...

Retailers Casualty Insurance to Offer Workers’ Compensation in Texas

Dec 2 2010 // Baton Rouge, La.-based workers’ compensation insurer Retailers Casualty Insurance Co. announced it will begin offering workers’ compensation coverage in Texas.Retailers Casualty, which is managed by Summit...

Black Friday, Cyber Monday: Holiday Shopping Rush Brings Risks

Nov 23 2010 // Americans’ spending hits a fever pitch during the holidays and two days in particular – “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” – leave retailers and consumers vulnerable to different...

Florida Retail Workers’ Comp Fund Becomes Stock Company, RetailFirst

Nov 23 2010 // The Florida Retail Federation Self Insurers Fund reported that a majority of its members has voted in favor of converting to RetailFirst Insurance Co., a stock insurance company within a mutual holding company system.The...

Court Hears Michigan Wal-Mart Medical Marijuana Firing Case

Nov 15 2010 // A federal judge on Friday heard arguments in the case of a medical marijuana user claiming a Michigan Wal-Mart store wrongfully fired him after testing positive for the drug.U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker in Grand...

ACE UK Launches Retail Sector Risk Management ‘Self Assessment Tool’

Sep 30 2010 // ACE UK has launched a self assessment tool for its clients in the retail sector to enable them to gather detailed risk information from multiple sites and to compare these against best practice benchmarks for a range of...

Wal-Mart Asks Supreme Court to Nix Massive Sex Bias Lawsuit

Aug 25 2010 // The world’s largest retailer has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt a mammoth sex-discrimination case brought by its women workers, according to a Wednesday court filing.Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is appealing an April...

As the Wholesale World Turns

Jul 19 2010 // As goes the circle of life, so goes the wholesale insurance broker world. Not even the sixth year of a soft market cycle has deterred industry veterans from launching new wholesale businesses or creating larger ones. Many...