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Delivery drivers' suit against Amazon says plaintiffs were paid less than minimum wage

Add another group of workers to the growing list of “independent contractors” who have filed wage-and-hour suits against major companies over claimed misclassification.

On Tuesday, four drivers who formerly delivered for Amazon Prime Now while working as independent contractors for Scoobeez Inc. filed suit against both the delivery company and Amazon.com Inc. Their Los Angeles Superior Court suit says the Scoobeez workers were actually misclassified employees who were required to wear a uniform of Amazon shirts and hats; make specific deliveries during a scheduled work shift; and paid an hourly wage. It seeks class action status.

The Associated Press and the San Francisco Chronicle have stories. The Huffington Post provides a link to the complaint.

By the time driving expenses were subtracted, the plaintiffs earned less than the minimum wage they should have been paid as employees, the suit says. It also seeks overtime pay, among other relief.

“When I was hired, I was told that I would be paid $11 an hour plus tips and $2.50 per delivery,” said lead plaintiff Taree Truong in a written statement, the AP reports. “In September, I had to sign a new contract that eliminated the delivery fee.”

The state minimum wage is $9, the Huffington Post notes.

In the San Francisco area, advertisements for the jobs said they would pay $112 a day, amounting to $14 an hour for eight hours, the Chronicle reports. There is no reimbursement for mileage or other driving costs. The minimum wage in the city is $12.25 hourly.

Meanwhile, although delivery drivers are supposed to be receiving tips paid through a smartphone application, it isn’t clear that is happening.

Attorney Beth Ross of Leonard Carder, who is representing the plaintiffs, said her clients had not been paid any tips, and said someone appears to be collecting the money and not transmitting it to drivers, the AP article continues.

“Amazon’s mission to deliver ‘Now’ at no additional cost to its customers is being funded by the delivery drivers,” Ross said. “Unlike the drones that Amazon hopes to eventually replace them with, these drivers are human beings with rent to pay and families to feed.”

Amazon and Scoobeez were not immediately available for comment, the AP article says.

See also:

ABAJournal.com: “FedEx will pay $227M to settle suits alleging it misclassified its delivery drivers”