FedEx Lawsuit

As we continue to dig around the web in an attempt to help you gain a full understanding of the controversy that exists between Fedex, its drivers and different branches of state and federal governments, we came across another news item from the Boston Globe, originally published in 2005. 

The story reports that four current and former Fedex drivers filed a class action lawsuit against the company, claiming that they were improperly classified as independent contractors as opposed to employees. 

It seems that the crux of the issue was, much like the other suits that have been filed, the amount of “control” the drivers had over performing their duties.  Fedex drivers were told when to report to work, when to work and where to go to deliver their packages.  These are all general indicators that someone is an employee as opposed to an independent contractor.

If you feel that you have been harmed as a result of this classification by Fedex, contact the Fedex overtime attorneys at Pulaski & Middleman today to schedule a free initial consultation.

The US House of Representatives is organized into several committees, where legislators tend to focus their efforts on a particular scope of issues.  One of the most powerful and influential committees is the Committee on Ways and Means, which deals with issues involving interstate commerce and revenue. 

Like other committees, this one holds regular hearings on different issues, and a particular hearing that occurred in May of this year should be of particular interest to anyone affected by the Fedex driver controversy.  That’s because this issue was specifically mentioned by Rebecca Smith a staff attorney with the National Employment Law Project.

During her testimony, Smith mentioned Fedex twice when describing the sometimes-problematic nature of classifying workers as independent contractors as opposed to employees, and her overall motivation was to prompt Congress to tighten the loopholes of this classification on the part of employers. 

If you have been harmed by this classification, contact the Fedex overtime attorneys at Pulaski & Middleman to schedule a free initial consultation. 

In order to follow up on a previous entry that detailed Fedex drivers’ attempts to hold a vote on unionization, an article published by Workers’ Comp Insider reports that after the NLRB issued its decision from its Boston office that Fedex drivers were in fact employees and not independent contractors, the drivers went ahead and held their union vote in accordance with their rights under relevant labor laws. 

As it turned out, the vote resulted in favor of unionizing the shop in question, with the final tally being 24 votes in favor of instituting a chapter of the Teamsters Union and 8 votes against it.  Overall, the Teamsters had previously lost 44 of 46 votes.  This set a potentially important precedent for several reasons, not the least of which is that Fedex drivers are increasingly being recognized as employees as opposed to independent contractors.

If you have been harmed as a result of this classification, contact the Fedex overtime attorneys at Pulaski & Middleman to schedule a free initial consultation.

Huge corporations tend to have legal problems from time to time, and Fedex is no different.  We’ve been detailing the growing controversy surrounding the Fedex drivers and whether they should be classified as employees or independent contractors, but a little research into recent news stories reveals that Fedex has faced other claims within the past couple of years as well.

One interesting story was originally published in June of 2006, when MSNBC ran a report detailing how Fedex was found liable to two Fedex drivers of Lebanese descent to the tune of $61 million in damages.  The basis of the claim was racial discrimination, and the plaintiffs claimed that for two years, they were subjected to this type of harassment.  This verdict is notable, in our opinion, for a couple of reasons:

1. $50 million of this award was for punitive damages;
2. The drivers claimed that Fedex was a “hostile work environment,” and that the drivers attempted to work with management to resolve the situation.

Of course, Fedex is appealing the decision, but if Fedex believes that their drivers are contractors, why would there be procedures in place to deal with workplace conflict?  If you have been harmed by this classification, contact the Fedex overtime attorneys at Pulaski & Middleman today to schedule a free initial consultation. 

We’ve covered several issues and news stories regarding the results of classifying a worker as an independent contractor as opposed to an employee.  As we detailed above, the result of this classification is the following:

1. The independent contractor pays his or her own taxes and/or withholdings;
2. The independent contractor must find and fund his or her own insurance;
3. The independent contractor does not generally get paid vacation.

These are just three issues of note.  One that has not been covered as of yet is the issue of overtime pay.  If employees are paid by the hour, which is usually the case with delivery drivers in other companies, they are generally paid overtime for any number of hours in a week over 40.  Some companies also offer extra/overtime/holiday pay for drivers who deliver on holidays.

If you’re a contractor, you are not due any additional money for extra time worked.  This is a significant cost savings for Fedex, especially during the holidays and around Mother’s Day, two of the busiest times of year for shipping.

If you feel that you’ve been wronged by Fedex, contact the Fedex overtime attorneys at Pulaski & Middleman to schedule a free initial consultation.