FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson discusses Walmart’s $100M judgment and addresses New York Times claims about FCC and FTC in ‘Varney & Co.’
Walmart has agreed to a $100 million settlement to settle allegations that it cheated delivery drivers about their pay and tips, the Federal Trade Commission announced Thursday — a move that FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson called “a big win for American workers.”
“We were investigating Walmart and the presentations they were making to their delivery drivers who are used by millions of Americans across the country, as well as consumers who use delivery services, about how much the delivery drivers would be paid, that your entire tip would go to the drivers, which Walmart was telling the drivers and consumers,” said Ferguson and Var.
“What we concluded from our investigation is that…Walmart was misrepresenting how much drivers would be paid and where the tips were going, to the drivers and to the customers, and that meant drivers were being denied the millions and millions of dollars they thought they would get when they signed up to do these jobs at Walmart.”
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Andrew Ferguson, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), during an interview with Bloomberg Television in Washington, DC, on Aug. 22, 2025. (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Ferguson said the settlement would require Walmart to pay $100 million to drivers “who were denied the full compensation they were promised.”
He said the development also required the company to “re-engineer its business processes to ensure that drivers get what they were promised” and to ensure that the presentations given to drivers and consumers are “correct.” [and] accurate,” and that the company will “deliver on its promises.”
The FTC, along with 11 states, accused the giant of misleading Spark delivery drivers about “base pay, incentive pay and tips they could earn,” causing them to “lose tens of millions of dollars worth of earnings,” according to the agency’s public affairs office.
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A Walmart store in Salinas, California, on April 8, 2014. (iStock / Stock)
“Labor markets cannot function effectively without accurate and non-misleading information about earnings and other tangible assets,” said FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Christopher Mufarrige in a press release.
A Walmart spokesperson told Reuters that the company has compensated affected drivers and continues to issue additional payments where necessary.
“We appreciate the hard work and dedication of drivers who deliver good services and products to our customers… We continue to improve procedures to ensure that drivers do things correctly and things are transparent,” said a spokesperson for the newspaper.
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Ferguson told FOX Business that the effect is not limited to Walmart.
“Any kind of gig delivery services that try to get people to make promises of compensation have to be honest about those promises, and we’re going to hold everyone accountable — not just Walmart,” he said.
