Jury awards $52M to Sysco whistleblowers in retaliation trial

Attorneys with the Law Offices of Maryann Gallagher and Aarons Ward won a verdict of $52 million for five former Sysco Riverside Inc. employees. The company was found liable for whistleblower retaliation and wrongful termination after the workers reported dangerous yard conditions and hazardous food safety practices.

A Santa Monica Superior Court jury awarded an initial verdict of $31 Thursday and added $21 million in punitive damages on Friday following a trial that began in November.

Maryann P. Gallagher, who is also of counsel with the Genie Harrison Law Firm, and Martin I. Aarons of Aarons Ward, who represented the plaintiffs, celebrated the result in a phone call on Friday.

"We're really happy that the jurors gave them the justice that they deserved and found for all of our clients," Aarons said. "It's a righteous case."

Gallagher praised the jury as it deliberated further on punitive damages Friday.

"They're very deliberative - the jury takes their time," Gallagher said. "They're very good, they talk about everything, they ask a lot of questions. We have a very engaged and committed jury that have been here since November."

The plaintiffs were also represented by Mia Munro of the Harrison firm and Shannon H. Ward of Aarons Ward.

Sysco was represented by Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP attorneys Max Fischer and Anahi Cruz in Los Angeles, as well as Roshni C. Kapoor in San Francisco and Nancy L. Patterson in Houston. They did not respond to phoned or emailed requests for comment by press time on Friday.

The case involved five former employees, primarily drivers and spotters, who sued Sysco for whistleblower retaliation and wrongful termination, alleging they were targeted after reporting numerous safety and legal violations. Key factual allegations included managers forcing drivers to speed in the yard, requiring trailers to be loaded with perishable food at hazardous temperatures of up to 70 degrees instead of the required 40, and mandating pre-trip inspections be completed in an impossible 20-minute window, which allegedly forced the use of "cheat sheets" to bypass actual safety checks. Williams et al. v. Sysco Riverside, Inc., 20STCV18692 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed May 15, 2020).

"Instead of thanking them and appreciating them, Sysco and its managers ... branded them as troublemakers and set out to retaliate against them and drive them from the company," read an amended complaint filed in June 2020. "Some of the plaintiffs could not take the emotional distress and daily hostile environment and were forced to quit, others who would not quit were then terminated for false or bogus reasons."

Conversely, the defense argued that all disciplinary actions were based on legitimate business reasons, citing misconduct such as sleeping on the job, smoking while handling food and theft of company time.

"Riverside also actively promoted workplace safety and enforced safety rules in all areas of work, such as speeding and food handling," read a defense trial brief filed in November. "The evidence demonstrates that plaintiffs were poor performers, and the numerous complaints they raised during their employment were not disclosures of what they reasonably believed to be violations of law, but rather complaints begrudging the supervisors who held them accountable for their jobs."

At trial, Gallagher said plaintiffs' counsel combatted this narrative by referring to their employment records with the company.

"A lot of them had really good, solid work histories. One guy was there for 25 years with no complaints, another one for 10 years with no complaints, and all of a sudden, after they start complaining, they're getting criticized, written up, followed, and when they report retaliation, it increased, and they increased their efforts to get rid of them," she said.

Aarons added, "The timing of everything was almost automatic, where they would complain about something on a date in question, and then a week later, they'd get written up for that date in question. Then they would sometimes use the write ups as leverage to try to negotiate for them to dismiss their grievances."