Pay for services, ALL the services, may be in the future.
This month, the California Labor Commissioner issued Orders, Decisions, and Awards in the amount of $855,285.62 to four port and rail drivers working for XPO Logistics’ subsidiary XPO Cartage. These drivers – like hundreds of others at XPO and other harbour trucking companies – filed Wage & Hour claims with the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement alleging misclassification as independent contractors. They join more than 300 port drivers for whom the Labor Commissioner’s office has issued determinations of misclassification. These four XPO drivers remain classified as independent contractors by their employer and are continuing their fight for classification as employees
The ODAs included, for the first time, awards for “nonproductive time,” such as time spent inspecting the truck, waiting for dispatch, or scanning in paperwork at the end of the day. Each of the four XPO drivers were awarded an average of $38,000 in wages for unpaid hours, plus liquidated damages for the same amount, amounting to approximately $76,000 each, in addition to expenses, deductions, meal and rest breaks, and interest. The awards for “nonproductive time” were pursuant to California Assembly Bill 1513 passed in 2016, which requires employers to pay employees paid piece rate for nonproductive time.
Since 2011, port truck drivers serving America’s largest port complex have filed more than 800 claims with the California DLSE, which adjudicates wage claims and is an enforcement branch under the California Labor Commissioner’s Office. The DLSE has issued determinations in about 300 cases, finding that drivers were, in fact, employees.
There have been countless claims in many other jurisdictions in North America without the results now being experienced in California. Now there is a precedent in California quite likely legislators and the judiciary will be much more willing to allow similar consideration for the hundreds of thousands of small business owner operator truckers that find themselves tied to a carrier — at arms length.
