A surprise complaint has hit Walmart with strong allegations of false promises by the company and a claim that it appears to have collected more than $10 million from several of the company’s delivery drivers. With the help of a smaller financial firm called Branch Messenger, the supermarket chain has become embroiled in a drama reported by the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Arguments seem to bring problem after problem, but the drama is slowly escalating over a payout that outrages workers who have discovered the fraud behind their labor.
Complaint against Walmart
This is a CFPB lawsuit against Walmart for illegally collecting funds through fraudulent bank accounts and forcing them to set up the accounts with promises that never materialized. The bank accounts were created without the consent of the company’s employees under the pretense that they were to be used for product distribution work. Under the name of Spark Driver, Walmart decided to force workers to register on their own and use their data without authorization to scrape garbage fees and collect up to 10 million dollars, which surprises everyone inside the company.
Apparently, the decision to create this account, according to the employees themselves, came from the top management of the company, who have asked that this would save the risk of losing the job. What can be taken as a warning or a threat against them to use the service offered by Branch Messenger, the small financial company targeted. The fact was also clarified by the words of those responsible for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, who stated that the workers have been deceived and used even their Social Security number to access sensitive information that is necessary to register in the banking system.
In addition, the delay in payment is another important reason for the complaint. Although it was argued that the payment was going to be immediate for Walmart delivery workers, the salary arrived on dates that did not correspond. With delays that angered many and with higher rates than those usually requested by other banks.
Walmart’s response
For their part, the heads of Walmart have decided to respond to the accusations through statements from the company’s spokesperson, who argue that the lawsuit is full of errors and contradictions. They have also stated that the exaggerations and the lack of legal concepts make this complaint invalid. However, the reality indicates that this accusation will prosper and go to court, where the CFPB will defend the Walmart employees against the company itself, which seems to have stolen more than 10 million dollars with these fees that were withheld for no apparent reason.
The two positions are eagerly awaiting the moment to argue, each with their own defenses, which will define a possible compensation to the million affected employees or a nullity in the case.
