Teamsters Applaud Eight States Calling On FedEx Ground To Properly Classify Workers

The Teamsters Union today praised attorneys general in eight states for taking on corporate bully FedEx in an effort to ensure FedEx Ground adheres to state employee classification laws.

Attorneys general from Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont sent a letter serving notice to FedEx that they were concerned that the company could be avoiding payroll taxes by classifying its drivers as independent contractors rather than employees. Such an improper classification also would deny workers basic rights such as a minimum wage, workers’ compensation insurance, unemployment insurance, wage and hour protections and civil rights protections.

“FedEx can’t hide from its responsibilities to its workers,” said Ken Hall, Teamsters International Vice President and Director of the Package Division. “Federal and state agencies are taking action to make sure FedEx doesn’t skirt the law and pays its fair share. Thanks to officials like these attorneys general, FedEx and CEO Fred Smith won’t be allowed to profit from this scheme at the expense of its work force and the American taxpayers.”

FedEx Ground is currently the subject of investigations by 30 states to determine if the company is misclassifying workers as independent contractors through its owner-operator model. Also, more than 45 class-action lawsuits have been filed against the company in state and federal courts over its misclassification scheme.

Misclassification of employees not only cheats workers, but leads to the loss of federal income and employment tax revenue. It is estimated that more than $4.7 billion in federal income is lost due to this practice. At the state level, misclassifying 1 percent of workers results in an average of $198 million lost annually to state unemployment insurance funds.

“FedEx has to learn that the laws of this country apply to everyone,” Hall said. “FedEx is going to be held accountable, and the millions of dollars it spends on lobbyists and advertising campaigns won’t change that.”

Founded in 1903, the Teamsters Union represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

To view letter, click here.

a Fraud

Submitted by purple-tales on June 29, 2009 - 4:29pm.

Wow! It just keeps becoming more apparent that FedEx's whole game plan has been to take advantage of someone else to benefit their own self interest.....the almighty dollar!

Fred's business plan is a piece of every scam/tyrant movie I've ever seen all rolled into one. We will steal a little here and screw over these folks there and then we will limit the rights of everyone. Kinda sounds like a dictator from a third world country.

I think they misspelled the name.....how about......FraudEx!

We can only hope that the general public, the rest of the employees, the government will all some day see Fred for what he is.

Keep up the fight, we are right!

When Money Is Involved

Submitted by AJR on June 27, 2009 - 9:17pm.

Sometimes FedEx can use expensive lawyers to achieve their goals in the courts. But when lost tax dollars are the issue, their lawyers are out of their depth. Once again, it looks like the several state governments are going to holding FedEx accountable, as they should!