Williams, the Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said Lynn was fired for having "inappropriate contact with a woman who directly reported to him" -- a situation, she said, that both Lynn and his subordinate acknowledged. Lynn signed a statement saying he kissed the woman, according to his attorney, Shane Youtz, who said the kiss was "not the cause of his termination."
Rickey Armstrong, a quality control auditor at Wal-Mart's optical laboratory in Dallas, said he was terminated because he reported misuse of company resources by his superiors. According to his lawsuit, they directed maintenance staffers to perform work on their yards and cars.
Williams said Armstrong was fired for threatening to "break the necks" of two managers. In discussing his case, the company disclosed that Armstrong concealed a felony conviction on his job application, a firing offense. Armstrong denies making the threats. In an interview, he said the conviction was for stealing cars.
Scalia, who was solicitor of the Department of Labor from 2002 to 2003, is defending Wal-Mart against two of the lawsuits, those filed by Bowen and Armstrong under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which expanded whistle-blower protections for employees of public companies. Lynn's case was filed on different grounds.
Scalia, son of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, was in charge of enforcing the whistle-blower protections of the act after it was approved in 2002 and has become one of the nation's leading experts on the statute since returning to private practice at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Washington.
Wal-Mart's decision to retain Scalia has drawn fire from groups critical of the chain, such as Wal-Mart Watch and Wake Up Wal-Mart.
"Only in Wal-Mart's America can they think it's right to hire Eugene Scalia to defend them against the same whistle-blower law he was supposed to help enforce at the Department of Labor," said Chris Kofinis, a spokesman for Wake Up Wal-Mart. The group is closely linked to the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which has tried to organize Wal-Mart's nonunion labor force.
Scalia defended his role, saying, "I don't see anything unusual in a company seeking out the expertise of somebody who became familiar with the requirements of a new law, while serving as a federal law enforcement official."
