Walmart Asks 9th Circuit To Reverse Underpaid Employees’ Jury Award

Walmart recently appealed a $61 million jury verdict in a trucking class action alleging that the retailer underpaid employees.

Walmart argued in the Ninth Circuit that U.S. District Judge Susan Illston should not have granted Class certification and summary judgement and should not have rejected the company’s attempt to request a new trial. The massive retailer said that these rulings were “just a mess.”

Walmart is accused of failing to provide payment for truckers’ layover breaks despite strictly controlling employees during this time. If employees slept in their trucks, they were reportedly paid a $42 inconvenience fee. Truckers claimed that they were owed significantly more than this and would be paid between $67 and $90 if they were paid minimum wage during the relevant periods.

However, Walmart claims that the time was not compensable and that truckers were allowed to leave their trucks and sleep elsewhere. The retailer also argues that layover pay is not required under federal nor California labor laws, going so far as to say that “nobody else pays for these layovers.”

“And yet we have a verdict that is requiring it to pay for 10 hours for everyone, even if they went water skiing or went to a casino or just went out and did things on their own,” Walmart’s lawyers told the panel, according to Law360.

Plaintiff’s Argument

Attorneys for the driver plaintiffs argued against Walmart, saying that layover breaks were strictly controlled. If drivers were hauling expensive items such as electronics, Walmart was allegedly unlikely to grant drivers permission to leave the truck. The plaintiffs argue that the jury award should be upheld and that Walmart should be forced to compensate their underpaid employees.

The jury award was granted by a California federal jury in November 2016. After finding that Walmart failed to pay their employees despite requiring them to conduct work-related tasks while on layover breaks, the jury awarded affected employees a massive award of $55 million.

Although plaintiffs saw this jury award as a massive win, not everyone agreed. Joe Rajkovacz says that the award was an overreach by state authorities. Rajkovacz serves as the director of governmental affairs and communications for the Western States Trucking Association.

“We think the decision is exactly why Congress needs to pass Denham amendment-styled language that prohibits states from involving themselves in payment methods to drivers and forcing compliance with unique state meal and rest break requirements,” Rajkovacz told Heavy Duty Trucking. He also said that Walmart was being targeted due to the size and familiarity of the company.

In 2017, the federal judge rejected proposed penalties of $80.3 million but agreed to add restitution of $5.8 million to the $55 million jury award. The increased award of $60.8 million for back pay was set to be divided between around 840 Class Members who were allegedly underpaid employees.

Depending on the outcome of the appeal, Class Members may or may not get to recover backpay for their allegedly uncompensated layover breaks.

The Walmart Layover Class Action Lawsuit is Case No. 17-15983 in U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

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