In consent judgment, employer agrees to comply with federal wage law at all US locations
BOSTON – A courier service that allegedly misclassified drivers as independent contractors at its Shrewsbury location and denied them their rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act will pay a total of $575,000 in back wages and liquidated damages to the 62 drivers, and ensure future FLSA compliance at all its U.S. locations under a consent judgment the U.S. Department of Labor has obtained.
The consent judgment follows a lawsuit filed by the department in January 2020 against USPack Logistics LLC and its chief operating officer, Frank Powell, after an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division of pay practices at the Shrewsbury location.
The department alleged in the case that the company and Powell paid courier drivers per delivery rather than an hourly wage, required drivers to pay for gasoline and vehicle upkeep and deducted various fees and insurance costs from drivers’ pay. These practices allegedly resulted in the company and Powell paying drivers less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.
USPack Logistics LLC and Powell also allegedly violated the FLSA’s overtime requirements when they failed to compensate drivers at one and one-half times their regular pay rates for hours over 40 in a workweek. The department also alleged the employers did not maintain accurate records of the hours worked by the affected employees.
In the consent judgment, entered by...
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