Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has agreed to pay more than $3.9 million to about 50,000 current and former employees in California who were underpaid overtime and other wages, the state's labor commissioner said on Tuesday.

The world's largest retailer also agreed to pay $198,900 in civil penalties to the state, Labor Commissioner Angela Bradstreet said in a statement.

In 2005, Wal-Mart voluntarily notified the labor commissioner that errors in its payroll processes had led to underpayment of overtime and other wages. It pledged to correct the problem and pay affected workers all they owed.

"This is a matter we discovered and reported ... and the situation has been corrected," said Wal-Mart spokesman John Simley.

What the spokesman left out is how Wal-Mart has been successfully sued in the past by employees, even in California, for the same behaviors. The claim that Wal-Mart has so graciously stepped forward this time sounds more like something which should be bagged and sold in the garden department.

Some of Wal-Marts past payments include:
2007 DOL (Department of Labor) v. Wal*Mart: $33 million nationwide
2005 DOL v. Wal*Mart: $134,540 nationwide

2006 Private class action v. Wal*Mart: $172.2 million (California only)
2006 Private class action v. Wal*Mart: $78.5 million (Pennsylvania only)