Santa Clara, CA: Amazon.com is facing an unpaid wages and overtime class action lawsuit filed by a group of former delivery service workers who claim the online retailer in conjunction with Courier Logistics Services LLC failed to compensate them for overtime pay and pay them tips paid by customers for the deliveries, in violation of federal labor laws.
The lawsuit was filed by plaintiffs Daniel Curry, Becky Lawrence, Nicholas Mason and Tyechia Webb, all of whom worked in Arizona for Courier Logistics, which is in exclusive contract with Amazon to deliver packages ordered through its newer same-day service. The suit asserts that the plaintiffs have been denied proper overtime wages as defined by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Further, they were not given the full amount of tips they should have received from delivery customers.
According to the complaint, during the past several years Courier Logistics has had a consistent policy of requiring its employees to work nearly 50 hours per week without paying the legally required time-and-a-half overtime wage. Additionally, the suit states that certain employees were misclassified as independent contractors.
The plaintiffs contend that Courier Logistics' delivery employees are not independent contractors because they are required to show up for work at a scheduled time every day, are paid by the hour, are assigned work and are not allowed to refuse any deliveries.
According to the suit, as joint employers that shared employee-based decisions, Amazon and Courier Logistics "had complete control over the manner in which plaintiffs would complete their work."
The plaintiffs are looking to recover all unpaid overtime wages, overpayment of income taxes and statutory penalties, along with other unspecified damages and attorneys' fees.
Plaintiffs are represented by Trey Dayes and Sean Davis of Phillips Dayes National Employment Law Firm PC. The case is Curry et al. v. Amazon.com Inc. et al., case number 2:16-cv-00007, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.
