A federal agency is accusing home-improvement giant Menards of illegally misclassifying thousands of its truck drivers as independent contractors in order to deprive them of workplace rights. The National Labor Relations Board's Minneapolis regional office filed the complaint late last month, based on a charge filed by the AFL-CIO's Office and Professional Employees International Union, Local 153.

A federal agency is accusing home-improvement giant Menards of illegally misclassifying thousands of its truck drivers as independent contractors in order to deprive them of workplace rights.

The National Labor Relations Board�s Minneapolis regional office filed the complaint late last month, based on a charge filed by the AFL-CIO�s Office and Professional Employees International Union, Local 153.

Privately held Menards, which is based in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, has 280 stores in 14 states, with 21 in Ohio and four in central Ohio.

The filing alleges that Menards treats its delivery drivers as independent contractors instead of employees, and claims the company maintains a mandatory arbitration clause in its employee handbook that effectively prohibits employees, including drivers, from filing collective legal actions, including with the labor board.

Menards said it plans to defend itself against these �ridiculous allegations,� which lack merit, said company spokesman Jeff Abbott in an email.

�We feel that the NLRB is wrong,� Abbott said. �Our corporation has contracts with various corporations to deliver goods to our customers. These corporations include Fed Ex, UPS, the United States Postal Service, Stephens Delivery, Inc., Quick Hauling, Inc., Rhodes Delivery Service, R & R Delivery, Spee-Dee Delivery Service and more than 500 other corporations.

�We are puzzled why the NLRB is involved with this because we have no disputes with any of these corporations or any of their employees,� Abbott said.

�These drivers have rights as employees,� said Seth Goldstein, senior business representative of the Office and Employees International Union, Local 153. �The drivers are basically labeled by the company as independent contractors, but we believe the drivers are also employees and they are owed money if they are employees � vacation pay, holiday pay, workers� comp, it�s quite extensive.�

The complaint follows other labor actions involving Menards, whose owner, John Menard, has been described by labor advocates as �intensely anti-union.�

Earlier in 2016, the NLRB said the company was withholding merit-based raises for employees who engaged in union organizing activities.

In that case, Menards �forced supervisors to sign an agreement that said they would get a 60 percent cut in income if the company unionized,� Goldstein said.

Menards settled that case and said it would reverse the policies.

tferan@dispatch.com

@timferan