The Massachusetts Department of Workforce Development has ruled that former FedEx Ground/Home Delivery Driver Robert V. Williams was illegally denied unemployment benefits after finding that he was actually an employee of FedEx, not an independent contractor as the company has claimed, it was announced today.

In rejecting the company’s position, the Department of Workforce Development concluded after its investigation that Williams, of Berlin, Massachusetts, was entitled to unemployment benefits because his services “must be considered to have been under the direction and control” of FedEx.

In its decision, the state examiner noted numerous reasons why Williams should be considered an employee, including the fact that Williams was required to:

·       work, without flexibility typically afforded a truly independent contractor. (The schedule was dictated by the company out of its Worcester terminal in Northborough, MA.)

·       rent the company electronic package scanner, which is required by the company to monitor driver output.
·       buy the specified company uniform, and company delivery vehicle, from the company-specified dealer.

“The Decision speaks for itself, loud and clear, that Mr. Williams was an independent contractor in name only and that he is absolutely entitled to the benefits afforded other FedEx employees,” said Shannon Liss-Riordan, one of Williams’ attorneys. “It is easy to understand why the company did not enter an appearance to contest the appeal. It had no argument.”

Lynn Rossman Faris, Esq., lead attorney in the national class action suit against FedEx Ground in which Mr. Williams is a class member, hailed the decision as yet another example, from coast to coast, of decisions supporting the contention that FedEx has been misclassifying its drivers as independent contractors.

“This decision is timely as we are in full-scale depositions at the FedEx Ground headquarters in Pittsburgh on the class-action litigation,” she explained. “We have begun the process of taking 75 sworn statements, including those from top company executives, regional managers and terminal managers, all aimed at demonstrating in Federal Court what Massachusetts has just determined: FedEx Ground drivers are and have always been employees.”

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