FedEx Wins Wash. State Class Action Suit over Classification of Drivers as Contractors
This story appears in the April 6 print edition of Transport Topics.
FedEx Corp. last week won a Washington state class action case that affirmed the company’s position on driver classification.
A King County jury in the state’s Superior Court on March 31 turned down the contention by 320 FedEx Ground drivers that they were employees entitled to overtime pay at 1.5 times a standard rate, as well as a uniform allowance, rather than independent contractors.
“We’re very pleased that the jury in Washington State reaffirmed our position that the entrepreneurial men and women who contract with FedEx Ground are independent business owners who control their own professional success,” FedEx spokesman Maury Lane said.
“FedEx Ground is proud to be associated with nearly 13,000 independent contractors, all of whom made the decision to be self-sufficient, to be their own boss and to control their professional success,” Lane said.
FedEx has been a staunch opponent of court and legislative efforts to classify contractors as employees. Its main competitor, UPS Inc., does classify its workers as employees.
FedEx still faces a larger class action suit involving an estimated 30,000 workers who are challenging their contractor status and are seeking to be classified as employees. That case is in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana and is before Judge Robert Miller.
The federal case, which also is a class action, covers workers in 40 states, said Robert Harwood, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys in that case. In a March 2008 ruling, Miller ruled that the case could proceed as a class action measurebut he also said the court could order that the cases be sent back to the workers’ home states.
“I don’t think there is going to be any effect whatsoever from the Seattle case,” said Harwood. “I don’t see it as having much precedent.”
Lane did not comment on whether the Seattle decision would have an effect on the Indiana federal case.
Becky Rowe, the Seattle plaintiff’s attorney, told Transport Topics, “We think we stand a really good chance on appeal because the jury instructions did not direct them to consider whether the economic reality and the dependence of the driver had to be a factor in the decision.”
The appeal will be filed in Division One of the Court of Appeals in Seattle, she said.
The Washington case, known as Anfinson vs. FedEx Ground Package System Inc., covered workers with a single work area, or assignment. FedEx said in a statement that the three initial plaintiffs sold their routes for a profit after filing the suit.
The Indiana case includes both workers who drive a single route and others who have multiple routes and pay individuals to pick up and deliver packages.
Last year, FedEx lost a state case in California and was ordered to pay $26.8 million to 203 contractors.
