Walmart must pay one of its former truck drivers $35 million after a jury concluded the retailer falsely accused him of workers’ compensation fraud.

A San Bernardino County jury declared in a two-part verdict last week that former Walmart driver Jesus “Jesse” Fonseca is entitled to $25 million in punitive damages and $9.7 million in actual damages, including losses from lost wages and benefits as well as non-economic damages include damages such as: B. emotional stress.

The semi-truck Fonseca was driving for the company was struck by another semi-truck in 2017, forcing him to file a workers’ compensation lawsuit with a doctor’s order to limit commercial driving and keep lifting objects to a minimum. According to the lawsuit filed in 2019, Walmart denied Fonseca’s requests to combine his injuries with other work duties. The company later accused him of fraud and said he was seen injured behind the wheel of a private vehicle. The company fired Fonseca while he was on leave for a breach of his integrity for being “willfully dishonest” and barred him from rehiring.

“The idea that someone perhaps engaging in day-to-day activities outside of their work restrictions amounts to fraud is absurd,” Fonseca’s complaint states. “But even if an employee with work restrictions inadvertently violates them, it does not constitute workplace fraud.”

However, Walmart fought the jury’s verdict, arguing its actions were justified. The retail giant said it would take remedial action, 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 Assets in a statement.

Fonseca, who worked for the company as a truck driver for 14 years and mentored other drivers for over a decade, “lived and breathed Walmart,” said an X post by David deRubertis, one of Fonseca’s lawyers.

But after leaving his job at Walmart, Fonseca had little luck finding a new job. Six months after his termination and while he was applying for new jobs, Fonseca had to tell potential employers that Walmart had fired him for “gross misconduct and integrity violations” because he had been suspended for fraud, the lawsuit says. He received no job offers from these potential employers.

The $35 million in damages is a hefty payday 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 pay of a truck driver in freight transportation was about $56,000 in 2022.

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