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Amazon Flex drivers in Massachusetts are claiming their employer illegally pockets tips.
Lead plaintiff Phillip Sullivan, who has worked as an Amazon Flex driver since 2017, alleges Amazon started taking tips in 2016 to about August 2019, according to a class action lawsuit filed Monday.
Amazon Flex pays drivers to deliver packages using personal vehicles at an advertised hourly rate of $18 to $25 an hour plus all tips, according to the class action.
“Amazon only changed this practice after the Federal Trade Commission began investigating their tip retention practices,” the lawsuit contends.
Formally, Sullivan is accusing Amazon of breaking Massachusetts wage laws, breaching contracts with its employees and being unjustly enriched by the practice of taking tips. He is seeking restitution in addition to triple damages.
Sullivan isn’t the only driver to take legal action against Amazon Flex.
The allegations follow a $61.7 million recent deal Amazon reached with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) earlier this month, a number equal to the amount of tips taken.
An FTC investigation found Amazon used customer tips that were meant to go directly to its Flex drivers instead were being withheld to make up the difference between lower pay rates and a promised one.
“This theft did not go unnoticed by Amazon’s drivers, many of whom expressed anger and confusion to the company,” FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra said in a statement last week. “But, rather than coming clean, Amazon took elaborate steps to mislead its drivers and conceal its theft, sending them canned responses that repeated the company’s lies.”
Do you deliver packages for Amazon? Did you have customer tips taken from you? Let us know what you think of this class action lawsuit in the comments below.
Sullivan is represented by Brant Sullivan and Hillary Schwab of Fair Work PC.
The Amazon Driver Tip Stealing Class Action Lawsuit is Sullivan et al., v. Amazon.com Inc. et al., Case No. 2184-CV00265, in Suffolk County Superior Court.
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26 thoughts onAmazon Flex Drivers Fight Back For Allegedly Stolen Tips
My sister and I did amazon flex 2020 summer
Add me I am a flex driver
Add me to the list, thank you !
Add me i am a Amazon flex driver
Add me i am a flex driver l.
I was a flex driver add me please
Add me,I used to have customers tell me they tipped me in the app but wouldn’t be paid them by Amazon .
Did it in Cincinnati for two years. Yes, I was gypped!
i was a flex driver in 2019-2020 please add me in the lawsuit
I started Flex when it launched in my area early 2016. I did notice the erratic way I would get tipped. Took me ages to realize what was happening. I had to start making sure I didn’t accept different types of delivery blocks on the same days. One day would be dedicated to just Restaurants because it was convenient with Uber/Lyft. Another I could add Fresh or Now blocks because I also had a prescheduled 3+hr block from the main station. I only ever saw tips from Restaurants because it dictated the pay of each delivery before accepting and tips were easy to see on top of that. Otherwise ya, I rarely got tips. I assume because it got rolled into “covering” my base hourly for the block delivery I was on.