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<blockquote data-quote="dmac1" data-source="post: 4720915" data-attributes="member: 60252">I had 4 trucks, hired/fired drivers, did payroll, bought vehicles, etc, and the court said that me and ALL the drivers I hired were fedex employees. One of the drivers I fired was trying to get unemployment benefits, which is how the state got involved. After I filed my response, and gave the state the contract I was under, fedex terminated my contract and then I filed for unemployment benefits and won, and the drivers I had in the past were all ruled to have been fedex employees, with Fedex owing back taxes for the state employment taxes. Under that state laws, my case could not be used as a general situation but anyone else under the same conditions would need to file individually. Because the class action settled, it is still the same. If the class action had gone to court the ruling in my case would have applied overall. Fedex wanted to settle to avoid that and the lawyers got paid, and fedex paid out enough to satisfy the majority. , &nbsp;I personally doubt that the minor contract changes alter any of that, but the contract changes make it much more unlikely that a &#039;contactor&#039; would end up in the same situation-because contractors are forced under the new contract to do things like pay employment taxes rather than pay drivers by the piece or as subcontractors, and the state doesn&#039;t care as long as they get their taxes. The changes don&#039;t really change the working conditions, but the changes put up roadblocks to allow fedex to keep the situation out of the courts.Plus- after seeing how FEDEX made the class action case super expensive and super long lasting- it deters other law firms from being willing to take on any class action. I would trust the state law to determine whether I was really a &#039;business&#039; or an employee over someone&#039;s &#039;feeling&#039; like they ran a business. The court compared my service to a manager running a satellite office or like a department manager given&nbsp; budget, control with some autonomy within a lot of limits like any company might do. No one is going to come after &#039;contractors&#039; and tell them they don&#039;t have a business, but another class action COULD develop, and all the &#039;businesses&#039; simply &#039;disappered&#039; if fedex decides to change the business model. Odds are that fedex would spend another $1 billion to fight it, and take another 15 years, and again pay off to settle without the courts making a ruling. So your &#039;business&#039; may be safe, but it is still not a &#039;real business&#039; if fedex can legally, legitimately &#039;dissolve&#039; the contract unilaterally say you don&#039;t have a business anymore. If you have a contract that can literally be erased as if it never happened, do you really have a business, or just an illusion???? Fedex would have $ZERO liability, which is the whole point of it to start with.I personally compare it to a franchise, and in some cases, the employees of franchisees have been found to be co-employees.&nbsp; But the fact that all work is done at a fedex owned location probably makes it more like the &#039;contractor&#039; or &#039;franchisee&#039; is really a department manager.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="dmac1, post: 4720915, member: 60252"] I had 4 trucks, hired/fired drivers, did payroll, bought vehicles, etc, and the court said that me and ALL the drivers I hired were fedex employees. One of the drivers I fired was trying to get unemployment benefits, which is how the state got involved. After I filed my response, and gave the state the contract I was under, fedex terminated my contract and then I filed for unemployment benefits and won, and the drivers I had in the past were all ruled to have been fedex employees, with Fedex owing back taxes for the state employment taxes. Under that state laws, my case could not be used as a general situation but anyone else under the same conditions would need to file individually. Because the class action settled, it is still the same. If the class action had gone to court the ruling in my case would have applied overall. Fedex wanted to settle to avoid that and the lawyers got paid, and fedex paid out enough to satisfy the majority. , I personally doubt that the minor contract changes alter any of that, but the contract changes make it much more unlikely that a 'contactor' would end up in the same situation-because contractors are forced under the new contract to do things like pay employment taxes rather than pay drivers by the piece or as subcontractors, and the state doesn't care as long as they get their taxes. The changes don't really change the working conditions, but the changes put up roadblocks to allow fedex to keep the situation out of the courts. Plus- after seeing how FEDEX made the class action case super expensive and super long lasting- it deters other law firms from being willing to take on any class action. I would trust the state law to determine whether I was really a 'business' or an employee over someone's 'feeling' like they ran a business. The court compared my service to a manager running a satellite office or like a department manager given budget, control with some autonomy within a lot of limits like any company might do. No one is going to come after 'contractors' and tell them they don't have a business, but another class action COULD develop, and all the 'businesses' simply 'disappered' if fedex decides to change the business model. Odds are that fedex would spend another $1 billion to fight it, and take another 15 years, and again pay off to settle without the courts making a ruling. So your 'business' may be safe, but it is still not a 'real business' if fedex can legally, legitimately 'dissolve' the contract unilaterally say you don't have a business anymore. If you have a contract that can literally be erased as if it never happened, do you really have a business, or just an illusion???? Fedex would have $ZERO liability, which is the whole point of it to start with. I personally compare it to a franchise, and in some cases, the employees of franchisees have been found to be co-employees. But the fact that all work is done at a fedex owned location probably makes it more like the 'contractor' or 'franchisee' is really a department manager. [/QUOTE]

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