Truck Driver Employee Rights Upheld in $1.2M Wage Theft Award

The California Labor Commissioner has recently upheld truck driver employee rights as opposed to the common practice of misclassifying drivers as independent contractors.

Ten California port truck drivers have been awarded $1.2 million in wage theft that followed from driver misclassification. The drivers moved goods destined for big-name retailers such as Best Buy, Puma, and Lowe’s out of the Port of Los Angeles.

The drivers filed legal claims back in 2017 which alleged that their employer K&R Transportation owed them compensation for unpaid wages, meal and rest breaks not taken, and for assorted paycheck deductions that were against the law. The company had an eight-day deadline imposed to pay the drivers the financial judgment or take the issue up on appeal.

Truck Driver Rights

Truck driver employee rights have come under the spotlight with the introduction of SB 1402, a trucking bill that was signed into law in California by Governor Jerry Brown in the fall of 2018. According to an article posted last September on Trucking Info.com, SB 1402 allows for the formalization of a list of trucking companies which have failed to pay awards such as this outlined in final judgments against them.

If some of the U.S.’s most well-known retailers continue to use the services of these port trucking companies, the law will allow them to share in the cost of decisions against them. The idea behind it is to also punish the companies which benefit from denying truck driver employee rights and thereby drive a market of exploitation.

What Are Port Truck Drivers and How Are They Exploited Through Misclassification?

According to a June 2017 investigative series on USA Today on the subject of port truck drivers, such drivers are not “long-haul.” They are the ones that take ocean shipping containers and distribute the contents to warehouses within a 25-mile radius of the port. These warehouses then distribute the goods to America’s major retailers.

The drivers work long, hard days for little pay and often speak little English, making them easy for trucking companies to manipulate. More often than not, they are immigrants who came to the U.S. seeking a better life.

Often, the port drivers are expected to lease a truck from the company they work for as a misclassified independent contractor instead of a truck driver employee. Lease payments are deducted from each paycheck, leaving them little money to live on. In this case, their supposed employer becomes their creditor much like the old-fashioned concept of the company store.

The truck, however, is not driven off the premises or allowed to be used freely in pursuit of other work, regardless of the amount of equity they have invested. Often, trucking companies use this to their advantage and, seize all monies paid toward the truck if a driver becomes sick and has to take a short leave for any reason. This holds the person in a chronic state of fear of financial retribution. Even if the truck is financed elsewhere, the debt incurred alone can be massive, worrisome, and trap a driver in a low-wage situation.

In the end, port trucking companies often owe drivers, as in addition to the lease of the truck, they have been known to charge independent contractors for parking fees, insurance costs, diesel fuel, maintenance and repair—effectively passing on the cost of doing business to their employees. The USA Today investigation also uncovered multiple instances of workers being forced to remain on site and continue to drive upwards of 20 hours a day—well beyond federal safety limits.

Join a Free Trucker Overtime Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you have worked as a contract truck driver and believe your carrier has failed to pay you minimum wage or overtime, or otherwise might not have honored a contract with you, you may qualify to file a truck driver lawsuit or class action lawsuit.

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