Steven Bullock, Attorney General for the State of Montana has issued a press release stating that FedEx Ground has agreed to pay $2.3 million over its failure to pay unemployment insurance premiums on behalf of its drivers, which FedEx Ground contends are not “employees,” but independent contractors.
Gangemi Law Firm, P.C., together with co-counsel represents all FedEx Ground drivers in New York State, in a class action currently pending in federal court before the Multi-District Litigation Panel, in Indiana.
We filed the New York class action in 2004, alleging that FedEx Ground’s classification of its drivers as independent contractors was improper. We alleged that FedEx Ground exercised a sufficient amount of “control” over the drivers so as to render them”employees” for all intents and purposes.
As a result, we allege that FedEx Ground must reimburse its New York drivers for all expenses that they were required to pay, which reflected FedEx Ground’s costs of doing business. FedEx Ground’s potential exposure in the New York class action, which is currently consolidated with other actions filed by lawyers on behalf of drivers in many states, is significantly more than the amount for which the State of Montana settled, because it involves more than just premium payments for unemployment insurance.