Labor & Employment Law

Delivery Workers Want Their Overtime Delivered: The Perils of Too Much Control Over a Contractor's Employees

By Mark E. Tabakman, Esq.

A class action has been filed against DHL Express Inc., the well-known package delivery company, its contractor, Sky Land Express, Inc., and the individual owner of the contractor. The complaint was brought by a delivery worker, who was an employee of the contractor, alleging a failure to pay overtime. The delivery worker, plaintiff Leandre Layton, alleges that he worked over 40 hours a week, but was not paid overtime.

According to the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, DHL is alleged to be a "joint employer" of Layton and the putative class under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") because DHL allegedly supervised and controlled their work schedules and required them to wear DHL-logo uniforms, drive DHL-logo trucks, carry DHL-logo ID badges, report to a single establishment at the DHL building in the Birmingham International Airport every day by 6AM, to use DHL hand-held scanners, and to drive to delivery and pick-up stations designated by DHL.

In addition to these requirements, Layton was required to follow DHL rules and regulations which administered DHL policy and codes of conduct with regard to customer service and delivery truck maintenance matters. Further, DHL tracked the travels of these delivery workers through what the complaint calls "a sophisticated computer tracking system," which "closely supervised by latitude and longitude the exact location of the Plaintiffs and putative class who worked as drivers."

This case, although similar to other cases reviewed on this blog about independent contractors, involves employees working for a contractor that were almost entirely controlled by the other party to the contractual relationship. Employers, and the contractors working with them, should not rest easy believing that their relationship, or how they choose to couch their relationship, will magically dispel all confusion about the economic reality of the relationship between them and their employees. Similarly, an employer's relationship with a contractor will not release the employer from obligations that it would otherwise owe to employees, such as overtime. Under the FLSA, the true nature of the relationship will be scrutinized, and thus, if you are an employer and your contractor's employees are wearing your hat, your uniform, and/or your logo, you should probably re-examine the level of control you are exerting over those employees.
 

Full post as published by Wage & Hour - Development & Highlights on September 15, 2008 (boomark / email).