Walmart to Drop Extra Sunday Pay

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to stop paying associates an extra $1 an hour for working on Sundays starting next year.

The move will only affect those hired after Jan. 1, not the Bentonville, Ark.-retailer giant’s current 1.4 million U.S. employees, company spokesman Greg Rossiter told Bloomberg. Employees in Rhode Island and Massachusetts also are not affected because state laws guarantee them 1.5 times their hourly rate for working on Sundays. The change will impact employees at Walmart stores and Sam’s Club locations.

Other planned changes include ending profit-sharing contributions next year, in favor of matches to employee 401(k) retirement accounts, expected to reduce benefits costs, Bloomberg reported. Changes also include switching hourly employees’ incentive payments to a quarterly schedule instead of an annual one, and increasing the dollar amount in the bonus pool, Rossiter said.

Walmart has seen declines in same-store sales for the past six quarters amid rising expenses. Company CEO Mike Duke has pledged to slow cost growth by, among other things, reducing labor costs, the retailer’s largest expense.