Transportation 3

A federal judge presiding over the FedEx Ground Package System Inc. (“FedEx”) multidistrict litigation (“MDL”) proceeding ruled this week that the class of Kansas drivers who originally filed an action against FedEx in a Kansas federal district court are independent contractors, not employees, under the Kansas Wage Payment Act, Kan. Stat. Ann. § 44-313 (the “Wage Act”).  In re MDL-1700 FedEx Ground Package Sys. Inc., Employment Practices Litig., No. 3:05-MD-527 RM (MDL 1700) (N.D. Ind. Aug. 11, 2010).  The MDL court’s 103-page decision is available here: FedEx MDL SJ Order 8 12 10.  The ruling by Judge Robert L. Miller Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana came in response to cross-motions for summary judgment on the issue of the employment status of FedEx’s Kansas drivers.  The ruling does not end the FedEx MDL proceeding.  Rather, the parties have been directed to file supplemental briefing explaining whether the employment classification issue should come out the same way in the other cases in which similar summary judgment motions regarding driver employment status are pending.  Those briefs are due 30 days from date of the Court’s order.  We will continue to follow the impact of this decision in the FedEx MDL and in the numerous other similar wage and hour cases filed by independent contractor drivers against transportation providers around the country.