Swartz Swidler Secures Approval of $18 Million Werner Truck Driver Wage Settlement

OMAHA, Neb. — July 24, 2026. A federal judge has granted final approval to an $18,000,000 class action settlement resolving long-running wage claims brought by nearly 100,000 current and former Werner Enterprises truck drivers. Senior U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Bataillon of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska approved the settlement at a final approval hearing in Omaha, finding it a fair, reasonable, and adequate resolution of the twelve-year-old case, overruling all objections, and entering final judgment. The court also commended the efforts of the attorneys who litigated the case.

Swartz Swidler, LLC served as court-appointed Class Counsel for the certified driver classes, litigating the case from its filing in 2014 through class certification, summary judgment, expert challenges, and full trial preparation — reaching settlement on the eve of a nine-day federal jury trial. Swartz Swidler’s Justin Swidler presented the argument for final approval, joined at the hearing by co-counsel David Borgen of Dardarian Ho Kan & Lee.

What the Court Approved

At the final approval hearing, the court entered a Final Approval Order and Judgment that:

• Granted final approval of the $18 million settlement under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(e) as fair, reasonable, and adequate;
• Confirmed certification of the California and Nebraska settlement classes of Werner drivers;
• Overruled every objection to the settlement;
• Approved attorneys’ fees, litigation costs, service awards for the class representatives who stood up for their fellow drivers for more than a decade, and settlement administration expenses; and
• Approved the settlement of related claims under California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA).

The settlement fund is non-reversionary: after court-approved deductions, every remaining dollar goes to drivers. Class members do not need to submit a claim form — payments will be calculated from Werner’s own payroll records and mailed automatically by the court-appointed settlement administrator, Atticus Administration, LLC.

What the Case Was About: Unpaid Time for Truck Drivers

At its core, Abarca v. Werner was a case about unpaid working time. Like most large truckload carriers, Werner paid its over-the-road drivers primarily by the mile. But a truck driver’s workday involves far more than driving. The lawsuit alleged that Werner’s mileage-based pay system failed to pay drivers at least minimum wage for all of the hours they actually worked, including:

• On-duty, non-driving time — pre-trip and post-trip inspections, fueling, paperwork and logs, loading and unloading, and hours spent waiting at shippers’ and receivers’ docks;
• Sleeper berth time — time drivers were required to spend confined to the truck’s sleeper berth while on multi-day dispatches, away from home and under the carrier’s control; and
• Improper deductions — a $4.00 fee Werner charged drivers to access advances on their own paychecks, along with related wage-statement and final-pay claims under California and Nebraska law.

When pay is tied only to miles, weeks with long waits, heavy traffic, breakdowns, or slow docks can drive a trucker’s effective hourly rate below the legal minimum. The drivers contended that minimum wage compliance must be measured against all hours worked — and the court in this case ruled, in a significant decision under the Nebraska Wage and Hour Act, that compliance is measured hour by hour, not by averaging pay across a workweek. Werner denied the allegations, and the settlement is a compromise of disputed claims.

Twelve Years of Litigation, Settled on the Eve of Trial

The lawsuit was filed in 2014 and consolidated with two related driver cases against Werner, one of the nation’s largest truckload carriers, headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Few wage cases are litigated this far. Over nearly twelve years, the case involved:

• Class certification of California and Nebraska driver classes in 2018 — certification that survived Werner’s appeal petition to the Eighth Circuit and a renewed decertification motion in 2025;
• Approximately fifty depositions, including Werner’s CEO and corporate designees;
• Nearly ten terabytes of payroll, dispatch, GPS, and driver-messaging data analyzed by economic and data experts;
• Three rounds of summary judgment briefing and extensive expert (Daubert) motion practice; and
• Complete trial preparation — jury instructions, exhibit lists, and verdict forms were filed, and a nine-day jury trial was set to begin October 14, 2025.

The parties reached the $18 million agreement on October 13, 2025 — one day before trial — following mediation with respected Omaha mediator Michael Mullin. The court granted preliminary approval in February 2026, and a court-approved notice program reached almost 99% of the class by mail, email, and text message. Out of nearly 100,000 drivers, only five opted out — a reaction the Eighth Circuit has described in comparable cases as “minuscule” opposition confirming a settlement’s fairness.

What Werner Drivers Will Receive

Settlement shares are proportional to each driver’s weeks worked as a Werner qualified driver during the class period (June 4, 2010 through November 6, 2023), calculated from Werner’s payroll and employment records. Nebraska class members receive a base payment plus their pro rata share; California class members receive a larger base payment reflecting additional California claims, and PAGA group members receive an additional allocation. Drivers who worked more weeks receive more.

Because the settlement is claims-free and non-reversionary, drivers do not have to do anything to be paid. Checks will be mailed to class members’ addresses on file after the judgment becomes final. Class members with questions or address updates should contact the settlement administrator, Atticus Administration, LLC.

Why This Settlement Matters for Truck Drivers

Most over-the-road truck drivers are paid by the mile — and per-mile pay can leave large amounts of working time uncompensated. When a driver spends hours waiting at a dock, fueling, inspecting the truck, filling out logs, or resting in a sleeper berth because the job requires it, those hours are real work time under many states’ wage laws. This case pressed exactly those questions under Nebraska and California minimum wage law — including whether minimum wage compliance must be measured hour by hour rather than averaged across a pay period — and produced one of the largest wage-and-hour recoveries for truck drivers in the Eighth Circuit.

For wage and hour attorneys and drivers alike, the message is the same: a pay-per-mile or pay-per-load system does not excuse a carrier from minimum wage obligations for all compensable working time.

Truck Drivers and Rideshare Drivers Face the Same Pay Problems

The pay structures at issue in this case are not unique to trucking. Rideshare and delivery drivers — Uber, Lyft, Amazon delivery, and app-based couriers — face strikingly similar issues: pay tied to miles or trips rather than time, unpaid waiting time between assignments, unreimbursed expenses, and deductions that eat into pay. Whether you drive an 18-wheeler for a national carrier or your own car for an app, the core legal question is often identical: are you being paid at least the wages the law requires for all of the time you actually work?

Swartz Swidler represents both over-the-road truck drivers and rideshare and gig economy drivers in wage claims across the country.

Swartz Swidler: At the Forefront of the Fight for Truck Driver Pay

Swartz Swidler, LLC has been at the forefront of these battles for more than a decade. The firm maintains a dedicated national practice representing over-the-road truck drivers in minimum wage and unpaid-time litigation, and has recovered tens of millions of dollars for drivers at carriers across the trucking industry — including drivers for C.R. England, PAM Transport, U.S. Xpress, and Celadon, in addition to Werner.

Federal courts have repeatedly recognized the firm’s standing in this area. One federal court observed that Swartz Swidler “has a reputation in the trucking industry as being one of the prominent firms to engage in FLSA litigation on behalf of truck drivers”; another found the firm’s attorneys “proved themselves to be highly skilled and experienced in this particular area of litigation” in a minimum wage class action for truck drivers. The recurring themes in these cases are the same ones Werner drivers raised here: per-mile pay that ignores non-driving work, unpaid sleeper berth and waiting time, and deductions that chip away at drivers’ earnings.

The firm served as Class Counsel in this case together with co-counsel Dardarian Ho Kan & Lee (Oakland, CA), Sitkin Law Office (Oakland, CA), and Mara Law Firm, PC (San Diego, CA).

Frequently Asked Questions About the Werner Settlement

What is the Werner Enterprises truck driver settlement?

It is an $18 million class action settlement resolving claims that Werner Enterprises failed to pay truck drivers minimum wage for all hours worked — including non-driving work time and sleeper berth time — in Abarca v. Werner Enterprises, Inc., No. 8:14-cv-00319 (D. Neb.). A Nebraska federal court granted final approval on July 24, 2026.

Who is included in the Werner settlement class?

The certified classes generally include drivers who worked for Werner as qualified drivers between June 4, 2010 and November 6, 2023 and were covered by the Nebraska or California class definitions — nearly 100,000 drivers in total. Class members previously received notice by mail, email, or text message.

Do Werner drivers need to file a claim form to get paid?

No. The settlement requires no claim form. Payments are calculated automatically from Werner’s payroll records and will be mailed to class members after the judgment becomes final.

How much will each driver receive from the Werner settlement?

Individual payments vary. Each class member receives a base payment plus a pro rata share of the net fund based on the number of weeks they worked as a Werner qualified driver during the class period. Drivers who worked more weeks receive larger payments.

When will Werner settlement checks be mailed?

Checks will be mailed by the settlement administrator, Atticus Administration, LLC, after the court’s final approval judgment takes effect. Class members can contact the administrator to confirm or update their mailing address.

What law firm represented the Werner drivers?

Swartz Swidler, LLC served as court-appointed Class Counsel, together with co-counsel Dardarian Ho Kan & Lee, Sitkin Law Office, and Mara Law Firm, PC.

Has Swartz Swidler handled other truck driver wage lawsuits?

Yes. Swartz Swidler has litigated unpaid-wage cases for truck drivers against carriers across the industry — including C.R. England, PAM Transport, U.S. Xpress, and Celadon — recovering tens of millions of dollars for drivers whose per-mile pay did not compensate all of their working time.

I drive for a different carrier — or for a rideshare app. Could I have a wage claim?

Possibly. If you are paid by the mile, by the load, or by the trip and are not paid for all of your working time — waiting, inspections, fueling, paperwork, mandatory time in the truck, or time between app assignments — you may have a minimum wage claim under state or federal law. Contact Swartz Swidler for a free, confidential consultation.

Attorney Advertising. This post describes a court-approved class action settlement and is for informational purposes only; it is not legal advice. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Werner Enterprises denied the allegations, and the settlement is a compromise of disputed claims. Class members with questions about their individual payments should contact the settlement administrator, Atticus Administration, LLC.