To all FedEx Ground and Home Delivery drivers:
You may have seen or heard television and radio ads urging you to contact an attorney who promises a “big payday” for your claims against FedEx Ground for misclassifying you as independent contractors. These ads misleadingly suggest that your chances of recovery are greater if you go it alone against the Company. If you call these attorneys, they might even suggest that they can settle with FedEx Ground without even having to actually file a lawsuit. As you might have guessed, this is all a lot of hot air. It is important to know that these attorneys likely do not possess any expertise in employment law and are merely telemarketers and “case forwarders” who attract potential plaintiffs with flashy advertising and misleading promises, only to send your case along to another attorney for a fee. What these lawyers fail to tell you is that your chances of a fair recovery on an individual basis is likely much less than they promise. Because the current litigation concerning the employment status of virtually FedEx Ground’s entire workforce goes to the very heart of its business model, the Company has been fighting tooth and nail in any proceeding that touches this issue. For example, even though many state unemployment agencies have held FedEx Ground drivers to be employees, FedEx Ground continues to re-litigate this issue every time a new driver makes the same claim. Given this strategy by the Company, it is highly unlikely that FedEx Ground will settle with individual drivers. Because the employment status of its drivers is such a critical issue to the Company, we believe that FedEx Ground will only entertain settlement, if at all, on a nationwide basis so that it can be definitively resolved for the entire Company. This strategy by FedEx Ground only makes sense because a defendant in any action that is subject to repetition, such as an individual suit by a driver against FedEx Ground based on misclassification, has no incentive to settle with any one driver. Why? Because it only sets a bad precedent that would encourage even more suits against it. This unwillingness to settle any individual suit is precisely the strategy of Pfizer in its much publicized Vioxx litigations. Next time you are tempted by one of these misleading ads, we encourage you to find out what experience the advertising attorney has in fighting for employment rights. Also ask him why he thinks FedEx Ground would settle your claim individually when it makes no sense for it to do so. Don’t be surprised by the silence at the other end of the line. It’s just the advertising lawyer running out of hot air. Also, make sure that you understand the fees this lawyer will charge you. Will you have to pay a fee from any recovery that arises out of the class actions? Will the individual settlement that this lawyer wants preclude you from a class-wide settlement?
We urge you to be informed as to what is real and what is simply a sales pitch. If you have any questions, please feel free to call (856) 824-1001.