Wal-Mart worker tapped Times calls

NEW YORK -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, faces a federal probe after the company said a technician intercepted text messages and improperly recorded phone calls with a New York Times reporter.

The retailer learned of the recordings Jan. 11 when a worker reported them, Wal-Mart said in a statement. The unnamed technician was fired along with his supervisor, and another manager was disciplined.

The recordings took place over four months through January and didn't break state and federal laws, Wal-Mart said. Last year Hewlett-Packard Co. chairman Patricia Dunn and other officials resigned after company representatives improperly obtained phone records of reporters and board members.

"We're looking at this to determine if there is a violation of federal law within our jurisdiction," said Deborah Groom, the first assistant US attorney in the Western District of Arkansas.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is also investigating, said Wal-Mart, which notified the US attorney Jan. 13.

The same employee also read text messages and pages from non-Wal-Mart employees, in violation of company policy, the retailer said.

The fired systems technician used his own equipment to capture messages within a few miles of the company's headquarters, spokeswoman Mona Williams said on a conference call

Williams said the text messages were retrieved from personal organizers, not from cellphones.

Williams said Wal-Mart couldn't disclose what it learned as to why the technician singled out the Times reporter, identified by a spokeswoman for The New York Times Co. as Michael Barbaro .

Wal-Mart chief executive H. Lee Scott apologized to the head of Times Co. and Wal-Mart issued an apology to the reporter, Williams said.

E-mail and phone calls by Wal-Mart employees are subject to monitoring, Wal-Mart said. "However, it is Wal-Mart's practice to record associates only in compelling circumstances and with written permission from the legal department," the company said.