Walmart sued by CFPB for opening deposit accounts for over 1M delivery drivers

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it has sued Walmart (WMT) and Branch Messenger for forcing delivery drivers to use costly deposit accounts to get paid and for deceiving workers — “last mile” drivers in Walmart’s Spark Driver program — about how they could access their earnings. The CFPB’s lawsuit alleges that Walmart and Branch opened Branch accounts for Spark Drivers, and Walmart then deposited drivers’ pay into these accounts, without the drivers’ consent. Walmart told Spark Drivers that they were required to use Branch to get paid and that they would terminate workers who did not want to use these accounts. Walmart and Branch also misled workers about the availability of same-day access to their earnings. Drivers had to follow a complex process to access their funds, and when they finally did, they faced further delays or fees if they needed to transfer the money they earned into an account of their choice. This resulted in workers paying more than $10M in fees to transfer their earnings to an account of their choice. “Walmart made false promises, illegally opened accounts, and took advantage of more than a million delivery drivers,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “Companies cannot force workers into getting paid through accounts that drain their earnings with junk fees.”