FedEx Contractors vs Employees Settlement in California...
10-20-2008, 02:59 PM
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FedEx Contractors vs Employees Settlement in California...
FedEx Drivers in California Awarded $14.4 Million in Landmark Employee Misclassification Case Paving the Way for Nationwide Relief to Class of 27,000: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance
Is the company worried about this precedent?
Press Release Source: Leonard Carder, LLP
FedEx Drivers in California Awarded $14.4 Million in Landmark Employee Misclassification Case Paving the Way for Nationwide Relief to Class of 27,000
Monday October 20, 3:16 pm ET
California Award Increased by over $9 Million
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- A referee appointed by the state Superior Court awarded current and former drivers of FedEx Ground about $14.4 million in reimbursed job-related expenses and interest. The award is about $9 million more than the trial court originally awarded in 2005 when it ruled the drivers were illegally classified as independent contractors instead of employees and entitled to compensation.
This latest ruling in Estrada vs. FedEx Ground Package System, Inc. was issued by William J. Cahill, a retired California Superior Court Judge acting as a court-appointed Referee to decide the issue of additional driver compensation and additional interest owed. He reviewed thousands of expense records provided by FedEx drivers, including company records, from the approximately 200 drivers. The documents detailed expenditures for a wide range of business expenses, including fuel, vehicle maintenance costs, and liability and workers compensation insurance, rental of package scanners, and uniform rental and maintenance. Of the $7 million in claims asserted by the plaintiffs, FedEx (NYSE: FDX - News) objected to about $1 million in expenses. The referee overruled virtually all of FedEx's complaints and denied only $32,000 of the $7 million in expenses claimed due to issues related to the documentation.
Lynn Rossman Faris, Esq., of Leonard Carder, LLP, of Oakland, California, lead counsel for the California drivers, hailed the ruling. "Tony Estrada, Jeff Morgan and all the drivers who have fought for justice for nearly 10 years now have been vindicated and will recover the money they paid for FedEx's expenses." She added, "It has been a long, hard fight and we can finally say that a definitive end is in sight, at least in this California case."
Faris is also co-lead counsel in approximately 60 other state misclassification cases (covering 40 states) that have been consolidated in the Federal multi-district case, known as the FedEx Ground Employment Practices Litigation in South Bend, Indiana. "The California drivers are paving the way for all of those FedEx Ground drivers nationwide who have been victimized by the company's illegal misclassification scheme," added Faris. Nationwide notice to over 27,000 former and current FedEx Ground drivers was given in June and July, with fewer than 150 (less than one-half of one percent) opting out. "FedEx has always claimed that the drivers agree with the company, but this miniscule number of opt-outs demonstrates that FedEx has been wrong in its public statements, just as it was in its California appeal," Faris said.
Is the company worried about this precedent?
Press Release Source: Leonard Carder, LLP
FedEx Drivers in California Awarded $14.4 Million in Landmark Employee Misclassification Case Paving the Way for Nationwide Relief to Class of 27,000
Monday October 20, 3:16 pm ET
California Award Increased by over $9 Million
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- A referee appointed by the state Superior Court awarded current and former drivers of FedEx Ground about $14.4 million in reimbursed job-related expenses and interest. The award is about $9 million more than the trial court originally awarded in 2005 when it ruled the drivers were illegally classified as independent contractors instead of employees and entitled to compensation.
This latest ruling in Estrada vs. FedEx Ground Package System, Inc. was issued by William J. Cahill, a retired California Superior Court Judge acting as a court-appointed Referee to decide the issue of additional driver compensation and additional interest owed. He reviewed thousands of expense records provided by FedEx drivers, including company records, from the approximately 200 drivers. The documents detailed expenditures for a wide range of business expenses, including fuel, vehicle maintenance costs, and liability and workers compensation insurance, rental of package scanners, and uniform rental and maintenance. Of the $7 million in claims asserted by the plaintiffs, FedEx (NYSE: FDX - News) objected to about $1 million in expenses. The referee overruled virtually all of FedEx's complaints and denied only $32,000 of the $7 million in expenses claimed due to issues related to the documentation.
Lynn Rossman Faris, Esq., of Leonard Carder, LLP, of Oakland, California, lead counsel for the California drivers, hailed the ruling. "Tony Estrada, Jeff Morgan and all the drivers who have fought for justice for nearly 10 years now have been vindicated and will recover the money they paid for FedEx's expenses." She added, "It has been a long, hard fight and we can finally say that a definitive end is in sight, at least in this California case."
Faris is also co-lead counsel in approximately 60 other state misclassification cases (covering 40 states) that have been consolidated in the Federal multi-district case, known as the FedEx Ground Employment Practices Litigation in South Bend, Indiana. "The California drivers are paving the way for all of those FedEx Ground drivers nationwide who have been victimized by the company's illegal misclassification scheme," added Faris. Nationwide notice to over 27,000 former and current FedEx Ground drivers was given in June and July, with fewer than 150 (less than one-half of one percent) opting out. "FedEx has always claimed that the drivers agree with the company, but this miniscule number of opt-outs demonstrates that FedEx has been wrong in its public statements, just as it was in its California appeal," Faris said.
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