APPEAL SET BY WAL-MART

MICHAEL HARRISON

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart here said last week it plans to file an appeal of a $20 million judgment a jury awarded four former company employees who were fired from their jobs at a store in Kentucky.

The employees, who worked after hours unloading trucks at a Wal-Mart in Monticello, Ky., sued the company and the store's former manager over the 1995 firings, charging they were let go improperly.

The plaintiffs were caught on videotape eating from packages they were unloading. Mike Maher, a Wal-Mart spokesman, told SN "We're going to appeal. Our position is we don't feel the verdict that came down can be supported by the facts of the case."