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Mislabeled ‘Contractor’ Is An Employee, Eligible For Unemployment Benefits June 26, 2007 (Hartford, Connecticut)—The Connecticut Department of Labor has ruled that a former FedEx Home Delivery driver was wrongly classified as a “contractor.” The state audit found the driver to be an employee, thus eligible for Connecticut unemployment insurance benefits. The May 2007 ruling found the company failed the state’s ABC Test in reviewing the claim filed by Keith Ignasiak, a driver who operated multiple delivery routes between 2006 and 2007. FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) unit FedEx Ground and subsidiary FedEx Home Delivery maintains that its drivers are “independent contractors” and not company employees. FedEx Ground employs about 15,000 such drivers to provide delivery services. FedEx Ground is the subject of numerous lawsuits and state investigations into the misclassification of its drivers. The Connecticut Department of Labor Employment Security Division audit concluded that although Ignasiak was a multiple route contractor, he was “not free to hire his own workers” and “could not assign his route to any other individual or relief driver at his discretion.” The audit concluded “the claimant did not render services in the capacity of an entrepreneur.” The company was offered the opportunity to appeal the determination findings per state law but did not file an appeal in Ignasiak’s case. This Connecticut ruling extends the application of employee status beyond earlier rulings covering only single service area drivers in that state. The audit noted, “due to the employer’s size and nature of the employer’s business, there are many other suspected misclassified single-vehicle contractors, multiple-vehicle contractors, temporary drivers, and temporary helpers…performing services for FedEx Ground.” “The recent National Labor Relations Board Region 34 order that found the drivers at the Windsor, Connecticut Home Delivery terminal were in fact employees and not contractors was just the tip of the iceberg,” said Dave Lucas, Local 671 Secretary-Treasurer. “FedEx may use slippery language and call its drivers so-called ‘independent contractors,’ but the scam does not stand up to scrutiny here in Connecticut.” FedEx Home Delivery drivers in Windsor, Connecticut, voted to join Teamster Local Union 671 in an election held in May. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) next must certify the election. In Boston, the NLRB recently certified Teamsters Local Union 25 as the collective bargaining representative for two FedEx Home Delivery terminals. For more information, visit the International Brotherhood of Teamsters sites at www.Teamster.org and www.FedExWatch.com.
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