American Rights at Work, the AFL-CIO, Change to Win, and WakeUpWalmart.com filed a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) calling for investigations into Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.'s unlawful corporate expenditures on electioneering and unionbusting in the workplace. 

The complaint contends that Wal-Mart made "prohibited corporate expenditures by expressly advocating against Senator Obama's election to employees who were not in its restricted class." Further, the complainants request that "the Commission immediately open an investigation to determine whether a violation occurred and, if so, to take all appropriate steps to remedy that violation of federal election law."

Reporting on the complaint, the Wall Street Journal adds:

The labor groups are also expected to submit petitions with 60,000 signatures requesting an investigation. [...]

Mary Beth Maxwell, executive director of American Rights at Work, said Wal-Mart "adapted their unionbusting tactics to influence our federal election system." [...]

Legal experts said election-law complaints against employers are rare but that the complaint against Wal-Mart merits consideration. "I think it's going to be a case that the FEC is going to have to take seriously," said Joseph M. Birkenstock, a Washington attorney specializing in election law. The key to the case will be "exactly what was said" at meetings, he said.

See also coverage from the New York Times and the Washington Post.

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