FedEx drivers sue to become employees

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — FedEx delivery drivers argue in a federal lawsuit that the company so tightly controls their work they should be employees rather than independent contractors.

The U.S. District Court suit is similar to lawsuits filed by FedEx drivers or former drivers in other states accusing the company of denying them overtime pay, health insurance, workman’s compensation coverage and other benefits provided for company employees.

The Memphis suit, which seeks to represent more than 1,000 drivers in Tennessee, says that while they must buy their own trucks, FedEx regulates the smallest details on how they are used, maintained and even painted.

The drivers, wearing uniforms purchased from FedEx, are told what packages to deliver and when to deliver them, and they can be assigned deliveries off their regular routes any time the company desires, plaintiff’s lawyer Joree Brownlow said Wednesday.

“They are in fact treated like employees,” Brownlow said.

Eight Memphis-area drivers who filed the suit June 22 say they are denied the work independence enjoyed by private contractors as well as the employee protections provided by Tennessee law.