Calif. Jury Hands Down $54M Walmart Truckers Wage and Hour Verdict

In a major victory, a California jury handed down a Walmart truckers wage and hour verdict to the tune of $54 million in damages for the plaintiffs.

After a nearly four-week trial, jurors deliberated about nine hours over three days before reaching the Walmart truckers wage and hour verdict in favor of the plaintiffs.

Specifically, the jury ruled that Walmart violated California’s minimum wage law when it failed to pay its drivers for all the tasks they do.

What Led to the Walmart Truckers Wage and Hour Verdict?

Deciding that Walmart violated California labor law by not properly compensating their employees, the Walmart truckers wage and hour verdict was celebrated by about 850 truck drivers who say they were not paid for various work-related tasks including:

• Waiting in line to load or unload their cargo
• Time spent to fill out federally mandated trip slips
• Washing and fueling their trucks
• Shortchanging drivers by paying them by the mile
• Failing to give its drivers meal and rest breaks
• Inadequately compensated for sleeping in their cabs during layovers

While the jury no doubt sent a deliberate message to the retail giant through their Walmart truckers wage and hour verdict, the company still faces additional damages and penalties that could push the verdict to $150 million.

California Labor Law Center of Dispute

Throughout the nearly 7 year legal battle, Walmart held that its truck drivers were “among the highest paid in the industry, earning from approximately $80,000 to over $100,000 per year.”

Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove noted that 90 percent of Walmart truck drivers had been employed with the company more than 10 years. “We strongly believe that our truck drivers are paid in compliance with California law and often in excess of what California law requires.”

But in 2015, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ruled that Walmart violated California’s minimum wage law, leaving only damages as the major issue to be decided by the jury.

That led attorneys for the truckers and Walmart to argue over the interpretation for California labor laws.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers contended that Walmart shortchanged its truck drivers by paying them by the mile, noting that unlike other states, California labor law states truck drivers are supposed to be paid for all the tasks they do, with a separate pay code assigned to each activity.

However, Walmart countered the argument, stating the truck drivers’ interpretation of California labor law was wrong.

“Plaintiffs provide no principled explanation – nor any legal authority – as to why a separate pay code must be assigned to each and every act comprising the various activities that employees are already paid to perform,” Walmart’s counsel stated.

One big point of contention is whether the truck drivers wereadequately compensated for sleeping in their cabs during layovers.

In court documents, Walmart says it pays its drivers $42 to remain in the cab during the required 10-hour layover period. But plaintiffs’ counsel says Wal-Mart is being “disingenuous”.

“Forty-two dollars for 10 hours isn’t even minimum wage,” attorney Nicholas “Butch” Wagner, whose Fresno-based firm Wagner Jones Kopfman & Artenian represents the truck drivers, said, contending that Wal-Mart offers this bonus so truckers will live in their truck and act as security guards so no one breaks into it.

After the Walmart truckers wage and hour verdict, Wagner said he was proud of his firm of seven lawyers for going up against the retail giant’s legal team.

“Hopefully this verdict sends a message to other trucking firms who are committing wage theft,” Wagner said.

Hargrove stated that Walmart officials “do not believe the facts support the decision” and that the company will mostly likely appeal the Walmart truckers wage and hour verdict.

The Walmart Truckers Wage and Hour Class Action Lawsuit is Ridgeway et al. v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. et al., Case No. 3:08-cv-05221 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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