Walmart must pay one of its former truck drivers $35 million after a jury found the retailer falsely accused him of workers’ compensation fraud.
A San Bernardino County jury said in a two-part verdict filed last week that former Walmart driver Jesus “Jesse” Fonseca is owed $25 million in punitive damages and $9.7 million in actual damages, including losses from lost wages and benefits and non-economic damage. damage, such as emotional distress.
The semi-truck Fonseca drove for the company was struck from behind by another semi-truck in 2017, forcing him to file a compensation claim with doctor’s orders to limit commercial driving and minimize lifting of objects . According to the lawsuit filed in 2019, Walmart denied Fonseca’s requests to accommodate his injuries with various work duties. The company later accused him of fraud and said it was supervised for driving a personal vehicle while injured. The company fired Fonseca while he was on work-related injury leave for violating integrity by being “intentionally dishonest” and made him ineligible for reappointment.
“The idea that someone might be performing daily activities outside of their work limitations amounts to fraud is ridiculous,” Fonseca’s complaint said. “But even if an employee with work restrictions accidentally violates them, this does not amount to workplace fraud.”
However, Walmart opposed the jury’s verdict, arguing that its actions were justified. The retail giant said it will pursue remedies, possibly in the form of damages.
“This outrageous verdict simply does not reflect the clear and undisputed facts of this case,” a Walmart spokesperson said. Fortune in a statement.
Fonseca, who worked for the company for 14 years as a truck driver and mentored other drivers for more than a decade, “lived and breathed Walmart,” according to an X-post by David deRubertis, one of Fonseca’s attorneys.
But after leaving his post at Walmart, Fonseca had little luck finding a new job. Six months after he was fired and while applying for a new job, Fonseca was forced to tell potential employers that Walmart had fired him for “gross misconduct and integrity” because he had been suspended for fraud, according to the lawsuit. He received no job offers from those potential employers.
The $35 million in damages is a significant reward for Fonseca. According to job postings on Walmart’s website, regional truck drivers earn up to $110,000 in their first year. The retailer increased its salary for the position in 2022 as the industry faced a shortage of nearly 80,000 drivers due to increased freight demand and pandemic-related challenges such as closed driving schools and DMVs, according to the American Trucking Associations. According to Walmart, the average wage of a long-haul freight driver in 2022 was about $56,000.
Fonseca’s other lawyer, Mohamed Eldessouky, said this in a statement CBS Money Watch the verdict “sends a clear message.”
“If a company decides to question someone’s character and integrity, it must do so carefully and fairly,” he said. “Walmart needs to rethink how it treats the hard-working drivers who are the backbone of its business.”
This story originally appeared on Fortune.com
