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Judge Blocks Additional $80 Million Penalty in Walmart Drivers Lawsuit

A judge has rejected an additional $80 Million penalty on top of the $54 million drivers were awarded in the Walmart driver wage lawsuit the company lost in November.

by Staff
January 26, 2017
Judge Blocks Additional $80 Million Penalty in Walmart Drivers Lawsuit

 

2 min to read


A judge has rejected an additional $80 Million penalty in the Walmart driver wage lawsuit the company lost in November, according to an Associated Press report.

In the original lawsuit, the court awarded $54 million to more than 800 drivers who worked for the company between October 2005 and 2015. The suit argued that drivers were not being compensated properly for activities such as vehicle inspections, washing or layovers and originally sought $72 million in damages.

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After being awarded the $54 million, attorneys in the case asked for an additional $80 million in penalties. The judge in the case denied the additional sum, in part because Walmart’s original sum was already one of the highest such compensations in the trucking industry.

The judge did award drivers an additional $6 million for any time they were denied proper compensation by Walmart that was not covered in the original case.

Walmart had argued that drivers shouldn’t be paid minimum wage for layovers or rest time because their pay was based on mileage, not hours, and drivers weren’t working during that time. The company also argued that it was unreasonable to be expected to break down pay by each activity when some of it only took a few minutes to accomplish.

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Wal-Mart still disagrees with the original verdict and maintains that it paid drivers within compliance of California law, noting its driver's average earnings ranged from $80,000 to over $100,000 per year.

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