Walmart should pay virtually $35 million to considered one of its former truck drivers after a California jury discovered the retailer had falsely accused him of staff’ compensation fraud and wrongfully terminated him.

A San Bernardino County jury this week ordered Walmart to pay driver Jesus “Jesse” Fonseca $25 million in punitive damages, plus $9.7 million for future non-economic losses together with enjoyment of life and psychological struggling. The jury discovered that Walmart had falsely accused him of violating its integrity coverage below its assertion of ethics, attorneys for Fonseca stated in a press release to CBS MoneyWatch. 

Walmart didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Fonseca, who labored at Walmart’s Apple Valley distribution middle in San Bernardino County for 14 years, was injured when one other semi-truck slammed into his Walmart semi-truck from behind throughout a June 2017 shift for the corporate, his attorneys alleged in a 2019 lawsuit in opposition to the retailer. 

He filed a staff’ compensation declare for his accidents, and was instructed by docs to not push, pull or raise something over 10 kilos, in addition to to cease driving a business automobile. Walmart didn’t accommodate these work restrictions, the lawsuit alleges.  

Fonseca, who was positioned on medical depart, was in the end terminated, allegedly as a result of Walmart surveilled him and found he’d pushed a private automobile, in response to his attorneys. Fonseca understood that he was allowed to drive private automobiles, and was solely restricted from driving commercially. 

The proof within the trial “confirmed that Walmart’s defamation of Jesse was a part of a broader scheme to make use of false accusations to power injured truckers again to work prematurely or, if not, terminate them in order that Walmart can minimize down staff’ compensation prices,” stated Beverly Hills trial lawyer David M. deRubertis, an lawyer for Fonseca. 

One other lawyer for Fonseca, Mohamed Eldessouky of Eldessouky Regulation, APC, stated in a press release offered to CBS MoneyWatch that the decision “sends a transparent message.”

“If an organization decides to query somebody’s character and integrity, it should accomplish that rigorously and actually. Walmart ought to rethink the way it treats the hardworking drivers who’re the spine of its enterprise,” Eldessouky stated.