Many businesses like to mark major milestones, such as the millionth customer or the billionth hamburger served. Here’s one type of milestone most companies would not like to celebrate.

A Minnesota judge ruled that Wal-Mart cut short employees’ rest and meal breaks 2 million times.

The result: Employees were forced to work off the clock, and Wal-Mart has to pay $6.5 million to those who filed the suit.

And the retail giant still faces a jury trial in October in which civil penalties and punitive damages could be awarded.

The class-action part of the lawsuit represented 56,000 Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club employees in Minnesota and covered the period from September 1998 through January 2004.

Judges in California and Pennsylvania found Wal-Mart committed similar violations in those states. The judgments in those states cost the retailer more than $250 million.

It probably doesn’t come as much comfort to Wal-Mart that it’s probably the only retailer big enough to have amassed this many payroll violations.

Tags: breaks, lawsuit, Wal-Mart