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Amazon delivery drivers in Jacksonville, Florida, have filed a class action lawsuit against the company, alleging the mega retailer did not pay drivers for the overtime hours they often had to work to meet shift demands.
The nationwide class action lawsuit was filed on April 22 in Orlando by lead Plaintiffs Andrea Thomas, Deandre Tinson, and Shonnika Spears, who were all delivery drivers for companies that contracted with Amazon.
The group alleges Amazon fails to pay delivery drivers for the time they work — including overtime — delivering hundreds of Amazon packages each day to meet the company’s demands.
If you are a worker in California and were subject to California employment law or labor law violations within the past 2 to 3 years, you may qualify to take legal action by joining this California wage class action lawsuit investigation.
Amazon was allegedly aware that the companies the three drivers worked for, known as Delivery Service Providers in the class action, paid drivers a fixed day rate without overtime, despite their taxing and long work hours, the claim states.
“While Delivery Service Providers pay the Delivery Associates, Amazon has both influence and control over how Delivery Associates are paid,” the class action lawsuit states, adding Amazon is classified as a joint employer of the drivers.
Thomas, Tinson, and Smith all worked as drivers in Jacksonville, Florida, between 2018 and 2019 and were all paid $13 an hour, or $130 a day for a ten-hour shift, the class action lawsuit states.
However, all three, along with a number of other Amazon delivery drivers, ended up working shifts that were much longer than 10-hours and had working weeks well above 40-hours, the claim states.
“Even after Plaintiffs were finished delivering their assigned packages, Defendants routinely required them to ‘rescue’ other Delivery Associates by going to meet other Delivery Associates in the field to help deliver some of their packages,” the class action lawsuit claims.
Both before and after their shifts, the drivers had to pick up their delivery vehicles at an off-site location away from the Amazon Delivery Station, as well as report to shift managers about routes. This added to the amount of time drivers worked, and that time was unpaid, the class action lawsuit alleges.
Amazon set the route and daily expectations for the drivers, supplying them with a “Rabbit” handheld device. The “Rabbit” provides the addresses of Amazon.com customers, gives navigation assistance, scans packages, and works as a phone, the class action states. It also allows Amazon to contact and track a driver’s movement and work progress. Because of that, the company is well aware of drivers’ overtime hours.
According to the class action lawsuit, the Driver Service Providers began paying drivers an hourly rate plus overtime in late 2018 or early 2019 after being instructed to do so by Amazon. However, the class action lawsuit says that the companies still failed to count all hours worked and continue to underpay the drivers.
Thomas, Tinson, and Smith want to represent all current and former delivery drivers who were paid by Commercial Express, COEI, LLC, or any one of its subcontractors, including AG Plus Express, LLC, JSTC, LLC, or Drop a Box, Inc. to deliver packages for Amazon in the United States.
They are seeking back pay damages, certification of the Class, damages, legal fees, and a jury trial, and are suing for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
This is not the first time that Amazon has faced allegations of not paying its employees properly. In March, Amazon employees in California filed a class action lawsuit against the company, after it allegedly failed to give employees scheduled breaks, did not pay them for missed breaks and did not reimburse them for business calls made on private phones.
Thomas, Tinson, and Smith are represented by Janet Varnell and Brian W. Warwick of Varnell & Warwick P.A, Sarah R. Schalman-Bergen and Krysten Connon of Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C., Ryan Allen Hancock of Willig, Williams & Davidson, and Michaela L. Wallin Berger Montague PC.
The Amazon Delivery Drivers Overtime Class Action Lawsuit is Andrea Thomas, et al., v. Amazon.com Services et al., Case No. 3:21-cv-00442, in the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida Orlando Division.
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