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Walmart faces its largest ever legal complaint for abusing workers’ rights after a federal agency filed a grievance against the union-busting retail giant.

The National Labor Relations Board issued the complaint this week, accusing Walmart of breaking federal labour law by threatening, disciplining or firing workers who took part in strikes in 14 states in 2012.

OUR Walmart, a coalition of Walmart workers, organised the protests over pay and conditions at Walmart, the world’s biggest retailer. While the majority of Walmart associates are paid less than $25,000 a year, Walmart makes $17 billion in annual profits and the Waltons—the richest family in the country—have a combined wealth of $144.7 billion.

The NLRB wants Walmart to reinstate the fired workers and give them backpay. Before the strikes began, Walmart filed a complaint of its own against UNI Commerce affiliate UFCW to try to stop them.

The complaints were issued on Wednesday after the two sides failed to reach agreement in settlement talks. The agency had warned in November that it could file a complaint.

The National Labor Relations Act guarantees private sector employees the right to act together to try to improve wages and working conditions with or without a union. Walmart must respond to the complaint by January 28.

According to the UFCW, the NLRB asserts illegal activities in 14 states at 34 stores and shows that company executives conceived—and oversaw implementation—of an unlawful retaliation policy for store managers to execute. The complaint—the largest ever against Walmart in both size and scale—names 63 individual store managers and company spokesperson and vice president of communication David Tovar’s illegal threats made to employees.

Alke Boessiger, Head of UNI Commerce, said, “Walmart will always do the minimum of what they are absolutely forced to do so we hope this move will mean they reevaluate how they treat their workers.

“We hope this is a wake up call to the new CEO, the workers, the United States, and the world will not stand for this anymore.

““UNI global Union has repeatedly ask Walmart for sweeping reforms to curb the dire working conditions imposed on its workers worldwide but Walmart refutes all these allegations and refuses to initiate a meaningful dialogue with us.”

“Walmart thinks it can scare us with attacks to keep us from having a real conversation about the poverty wages we’re paid,” said Barbara Collins a fired Walmart worker from Placerville, CA, who is one of the 117 workers named in the complaint. “But too much is at stake—the strength of our economy and the security of our families—to stay silent about why Walmart needs to improve jobs. Now the federal government is confirming what we already know: we have the right to speak out, and Walmart fired me and my coworkers illegally. With a new CEO taking over in a few weeks, we hope that Walmart will take a new direction in listening to associates and the country in the growing calls to improve jobs.”