03/05/07

Wal-Mart fires technician over improper monitoring of emails and phone
calls

By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Monday that it has fired a
Wal-Mart systems technician for recording phone conversations between
the company's PR office and a newspaper reporter and for intercepting
text messages without authorization.

The move is the result of an internal investigation that began on Jan.
11 when someone expressed concerns to the world's biggest retailer about
the matter, Wal-Mart said. It did not identify the technician.

Wal-Mart's internal investigation initially found that the technician
had monitored and recorded phone conversations between Wal-Mart's public
relations staffers and a reporter from The New York Times. The
recordings were made over a four-month period between September 2006 and
January 2007. Wal-Mart said it notified The New York Times earlier
Monday.

During the investigation, the company said it discovered that, in
separate instances, the same technician had intercepted text messages
and pages including communications that did not involve Wal-Mart
employees.

It said the interception of text messages and pages that does not
involve Wal-Mart associates is not authorized by company policies under
any circumstances.

Wal-Mart said it had notified its own audit committee of the allegations
on Jan. 12 and on the next day, attorneys for the company notified the
U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.

Wal-Mart said that it has kept the U.S. Attorney informed through the
course of its internal investigation and last week advised him that the
investigation was near completion.

On Thursday, it said the U.S. Attorney notified Wal-Mart that his office
would conduct an investigation of the pager intercepts and the recording
of the phone calls.

The FBI in Washington, D.C., said the agency is reviewing the
information from Wal-Mart "to determine if there was a violation of
federal law and if the FBI has jurisdiction."

In addition to firing the technician, Wal-Mart said it has also taken
disciplinary action against two management associates for failure to
carry out their management duties.

"The company believes that these pager intercepts and the recordings of
these telephone calls were wrong and has taken a number of actions to
further strengthen our policies and controls," said Mona Williams a
company spokeswoman in a statement.