Lowe’s Agrees to Class Action Settlement with Independent Contractors

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Lowe’s Home Center LLC will pay $6.5 million to resolve a class action lawsuit alleging the retailer misclassified home installation workers as independent contractors, according to a class action settlement agreement filed on May 23 in California federal court.

Ronald Shepard initially filed the Lowe’s class action lawsuit in June 2012. He alleges that he was hired to perform installations of garage doors at a California Lowe’s store. He claims that Lowe’s classified him as an independent contractor instead of an employee and failed to offer him benefits such as health insurance, worker’s compensation insurance, paid sick leave, employee discounts and a matching 401(k) savings plan. According to the class action lawsuit, he was required to wear Lowe’s shirts, and to inform customers that they were employees of Lowe’s.

California law takes many factors into consideration when determining whether a worker should be classified as an independent contractor or an employee of a company. The California Department of Industrial Relations Division of Labor Standards Enforcement notes that the most important factor is whether the company has the right to control the worker and how the work is performed. Employees are offered special protection under California’s wage and hour laws, such as minimum wage, overtime, meal periods and rest breaks. Employers sometimes misclassify their workers to avoid complying with wage and hour laws.

According to the class action lawsuit, Shepard should have been classified as an employee instead of an independent contractor under California law because Lowe’s supplied many of the materials necessary to complete their work and controlled the performance of the workers.

Lowe’s denies the allegations and maintains the installers are independent contractors but agreed to settle the class action lawsuit to avoid the expense and uncertainty of ongoing litigation.

To be eligible for benefits under the Lowe’s class action settlement, Class Members must have been treated as an independent contractor and performed installation work on at least one Lowe’s installation job in California since June 15, 2008. A California federal judge will determine whether to approve the Lowe’s class action settlement at a hearing scheduled for June 27.

More information about the Lowe’s class action settlement was not immediately available. Keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter for the latest updates. You can also mark this article as a “Favorite” using your free Top Class Actions account to receive notifications when this article is updated.

The Lowe’s Independent Contractor Misclassification Class Action Lawsuit is Ronald Shepard v. Lowe’s HIW Inc., et al., Case No. 12-cv-03893-JSW, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: Instructions on how to file a claim for the Lowe’s class action settlement are now available! Click here or visit www.ShephardvLowesSettlement.com for details.