Not independent contractors
Court finds FedEx Ground drivers are employees
FedEx could be liable for
hundreds of millions of
dollars in drivers’ operating
expenses and wages
OAKLAND, CA – The Ninth Cir-
cuit Court of Appeals ruled Aug. 27 that
a class of 2,300 individuals working for
FedEx Ground was misclassified as in-
dependent contractors instead of em-
ployees. As a result, FedEx may owe its
workforce of drivers hundreds of mil-
lions of dollars for illegally shifting to
them the costs of such things as the
FedEx branded trucks, FedEx branded
uniforms, and FedEx scanners, as well
as missed meal and rest period pay,
overtime compensation, and penalties.
The case, known as Alexander v.
FedEx Ground, covers employees in
California from 2000 to 2007.
Judge William Fletcher’s majority
opinion was very clear on the question
of whether the workers are employees
or independent contractors, stating “We
hold that plaintiffs are employees as a
matter of law under California’s right-
to-control test.”
The court’s finding in Alexander that
drivers in California are covered by Cal-
ifornia’s workplace protection statutes
not only impacts one of FedEx
Ground’s largest workforces, but could
influence the outcome in over two
dozen cases nationwide in which FedEx
Ground drivers are challenging the le-
gality of their independent contractor
classification.
Millions of packages are delivered
every day across the state under the con-
trol, direction, and supervision of
FedEx Ground. In addition, many
trucking companies have been operat-
ing under a similar model in which they
classify their drivers as independent
contractors.
“FedEx Ground built its business on
the backs of individuals it labeled as in-
dependent contractors, promising them
the entrepreneurial American Dream,”
said Beth A. Ross, an attorney for the
labor law firm of Leonard Carder LLP
in Oakland who represented the drivers.
“However, as Judge (Stephen) Trott
said in his concurring opinion, not all
ATU buys National Labor College campus
WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI) —
Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU)
has purchased the 46 acre campus of
the National Labor College in Silver
Spring, Maryland for $31.4 million.
The international union will move its
headquarters there from Washington,
D.C.
The campus, which was purchased
by the AFL-CIO about 42 years ago,
closed due to financial reasons after
this year’s class graduated. The NLC
was the nation’s only college dedicated
to labor-related studies, such as collec-
tive bargaining, organizing, mobilizing
and grievance handling.
“Today the ATU has stepped up and
assumed a greater leadership role in the
molding of minds, values and progres-
sive reform for both Canada and the
United States, where we represent
more than 190,000 workers,” ATU
President Larry Hanley said. “The
state-of-the-art conference and training
center will again be a hub of activity for
ATU and the entire labor movement.”
ATU has trained more than 10,000
members this year and plans to do so at
the NLC campus in Silver Spring, Md.
It will also make the campus available
to other unions and progressive groups.
The college “represents a new be-
ginning in terms of our capacity to train
not only our leaders and members, but
also those who work every day to im-
prove the life of our society,” Hanley
said.
“The campus has been the preemi-
nent training facility for organized la-
bor over the past 40 years,” Hanley
continues. “ATU will build on and ex-
pand that legacy to educate and train
new generations of workers and ac-
tivists across North America and the
world who share our values.”
that glitters is gold.”
FedEx Ground drivers were required
to pay out of pocket for everything from
the FedEx Ground branded trucks they
drove (painted with the FedEx Ground
logo) to fuel, various forms of insur-
ance, tires, oil changes, maintenance,
etc. as well as their uniforms, scanners
and even workers’ compensation cover-
age.
In some cases, workers were re-
quired to pay the wages of employees
who FedEx Ground required them to
hire to cover for them if they were sick
or needed a vacation, to help out during
the Christmas rush, and in some cases
to drive other FedEx Ground trucks.
After paying these expenses, a typi-
cal FedEx driver makes less than em-
ployee drivers at FedEx Ground’s com-
petitors like UPS, and received none of
the employee benefits, like health care,
workers compensation, paid sick leave
and vacation, and retirement.
“Nationally, thousands of FedEx
Ground drivers must pay for the privi-
lege of working for FedEx 55 hours a
week, 52 weeks a year,” Ross said. “To-
day, these workers were granted rights
and benefits entitled to employees un-
der California law. To be clear, the
Ninth Circuit exposed FedEx Ground’s
independent contractor model as un-
lawful.”
Tom Chamberlain, president of the
Oregon AFL-CIO, released a statement
congratulating the workers on a win that
could change their industry.
“The misclassification of workers is
an employer tactic to shift expenses and
liabilities to their employees. It is bad
business, plain and simple,” he said.
“This decision says in no uncertain
terms, what FedEx workers have
claimed for decades: ‘when you’re told
where to show up, how to do your job,
what to wear, and how fast to work,
you’re working for someone else.’ ”
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SEPTEMBER 5, 2014