Getman, Sweeney & Dunn has successfully sued Swift Transportation Company and Interstate Equipment Leasing, as well as Central Refrigerated Service, Inc. for treating the drivers who lease trucks from subsidiaries as independent contractors, when by law, they should be treated as employees. Getman, Sweeney & Dunn has recently won a declaration by a federal court that Central Refrigerated Service wrongfully classified its employees as independent contractors. Getman, Sweeney & Dunn is investigating several other trucking companies for the same violation.

By treating drivers as contractors, rather than employees, various trucking companies throughout the U.S. control the drivers’ work just as they would employees, but shift various costs and business risk to the drivers. The result of a misclassification, if it is found to exist, is that various charges, such as truck leasing, insurance, tolls, administrative costs, and vehicle tracking devices would be legally impermissible deductions from wages in many states. Getman, Sweeney & Dunn brought claims that Central and Swift engaged in “forced labor” in violation of the Federal Forced Labor statute, by operating a scheme to coerce owner operators to work for the company for years at a time, under threat of being required to pay all remaining lease payments (and suffer a negative DAC report) should they give up their leased truck. If you were a trucker treated similarly to an employee but were labelled as an “owner-operator,” please call Getman, Sweeney & Dunn to review your situation.