This settlement is just one in a growing number of cases claiming wage theft
On November 23rd, a San Francisco jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled against Walmart and for truck drivers on in a dispute over compensation.
The nearly 900 truck drivers alleged Walmart violated California’s minimum wage law when they were not paid for various 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
The jury awarded the drivers $54 million in damages and Walmart could still face additional damages and penalties that could top off at $150 million.
The truck drivers were represented by Nicholas “Butch” Wagner, whose firm of Wagner Jones Kopfman & Artenian. According to the San Francisco Bee, Wagner also currently has civil trials pending against three large trucking firms and has said that, “this verdict sends a message to other trucking firms who are committing wage theft.”
Read more about this ruling at http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article116765903.html