Wal-Mart Loses Pay Fight With California Truck Drivers
November 23 2016 - 7:27PM
Dow Jones News
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO -- Wal-Mart intentionally failed to pay hundreds
of truck drivers in California the minimum wage, a federal jury
decided Wednesday, awarding the drivers $54 million in damages and
opening up the retail giant to penalties.
The seven jurors returned the verdict in a lawsuit accusing the
company of not properly paying drivers in accordance with
California law for activities that included inspecting and washing
their trucks and for layovers. Civil penalties will be determined
by a judge.
The company argued the drivers are paid for activities that
include those tasks and that they aren't working during layovers. A
lawyer for Wal-Mart didn't immediately return calls seeking comment
on the verdict.
Attorneys for the more than 800 drivers who worked for Wal-Mart
between October 2005 and October 2015 were seeking $72 million in
damages, the bulk of it for layovers. They said during trial that
additional damages and penalties could push the total amount
Wal-Mart owed to more than $150 million.
Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. -- the nation's largest
private employer -- has faced other criticism over its pay and
treatment of U.S. employees.
The company announced last year that it was giving a raise to
about a half-million U.S. workers. The raises were part of a $1
billion investment that the retailer said also was intended to give
workers more opportunities to advance and more consistent
schedules.
Wal-Mart drivers aren't paid by the hour. Wages are based on
mileage and specified activities.
The drivers' attorneys pointed to a ruling in their favor from
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, who said last year that Wal-Mart
would be in violation of California law if it enforced its driver
pay manuals because they say no pay is earned for certain
tasks.
"There's nothing in any of those three manuals that covered 10
years of time that show the drivers were paid for any of these
tasks that are on your verdict form," attorney Butch Wagner said
during closing arguments.
Drivers also weren't paid minimum wage for layovers even though
Wal-Mart controlled their time by requiring them to stay with their
trucks, the plaintiffs' attorneys said.
Wal-Mart argued that it paid drivers for activities that
included other, smaller tasks and couldn't have a separate payment
designation for everything they did, some of which took just
minutes.
Wal-Mart attorney Scott Edelman likened what the plaintiffs were
asking for to a baker who charges a flat fee for a cake, not the
individual tasks of buying the eggs, putting the cake in the oven
or cleaning the dishes after.
"When you pay a baker $20 to bake a cake, what are you paying
that baker to do?" Mr. Edelman said during his closing argument.
"Is it just to put the cake in the oven for however long? Because
that's essentially what the plaintiffs are arguing."
Wal-Mart pays drivers $42 for 10-hour overnight layovers as an
extra benefit, but it doesn't control their time during that
period, Mr. Edelman said. Drivers are free to go to the movies,
exercise or do other activities, he said.
The company has said its drivers are among the best-paid in the
industry, with some making more than $100,000 a year.
Copyright 2016 Associated Press
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 23, 2016 19:12 ET (00:12 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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