Connecticut Drivers Found to Be Employees and Win Union Vote
The NLRB continues to hold that FXG contract drivers are employees.
On April 11, 2007, the NLRB regional office in Connecticut ruled that single work area drivers at FXG’s Hartford, Ct. terminal were employees and were eligible to vote in a union election. The matter began when Teamster Local 671 filed a petition for an election with Region 34 of the NLRB. After an extended hearing in which FXG called witnesses and cross-examined drivers, the NLRB issued its decision and ordered an election. The NLRB held that FXG “exercised substantial control over the drivers. The NLRB found, inter alia, that FXG offers the contract on a take it or leave it basis, that FXG reconfigures routes, approves trucks, uniforms and badges; and requires drivers to follow FXG’s detailed policies and procedures.
The election, held on June 1, 2007, resulted in a majority of the drivers voting for the union, 13 to 10.
In holding that these drivers were employees, Region 34 of the NLRB follows other NLRB Regions in Philadelphia, Newark and Boston which found drivers in those areas to be employees.
Four of the Hartford drivers filed a class action suit in May, 2007. This suit is likely to be consolidated with the more than 30 other class action law suits in other states, each of which allege that FXG misclassifies its drivers as so called “independent contractors” when they are in fact employees.