Weirton Legal Issues Blog

Many West Virginia employees and others around the nation have activities they must perform before or after their specified work shifts. For example, employees have to walk to and from their cars to get to their workplaces. This type of activity would not be considered as part of their principal work activities and would, therefore, not be compensated according to Department of Labor laws. However, some companies try to add other preliminary or postliminary activities to their staff members. One corporation in another state recently settled a lawsuit for unpaid work time involving activities before their employees' designated work times.

Dick's Sporting Goods, a major retail company, conducted searches of its employees and their bags following their shifts. According to a lawsuit, the company failed to pay employees for this time between Mar. 2011 and Jan. 2015. The lawsuit involved a class of over 10,500 current and former Dick's employees. The lawsuit was settled for $2.9 million, and each employee should receive roughly $155 in the settlement.

There are many truck drivers in West Virginia and all across the country who are considered to be independent contractors at their places of employment. Often, companies use contractors as part of their workforces in addition to their full-time employees. While this arrangement can be beneficial to all parties involved, it can also be abused. Managers may begin treating their contractors just as they do their "regular" employees and violate labor laws. Recently, a major transportation company settled a lawsuit that stemmed from misclassification of its truck drivers as independent contractors.

Almost 20,000 truck drivers claimed in a class action lawsuit that Swift Transportation had misclassified them as contractors from 1999 to 2017. The claim, filed in 2009, stated that since the drivers were classified as independent contractors, they were not paid the legally required minimum wage. Therefore, according to the lawsuit, the company was violating the Fair Labor Standards Act. Officials at Swift tried to seek arbitration through the Federal Arbitration Act and through the arbitration laws of its state.

Many companies in West Virginia and across the nation utilize independent contractors in addition to their regular workforce of employees. However, businesses often stumble when employing contractors, since the practice can often result in misclassification of workers. A major manufacturer of baked goods headquartered in another state recently settled a lawsuit that alleged the company had misclassified its distributors as contractors.

Flowers Foods settled the Fair Labor Standards Act misclassification lawsuit for $9 million. The lawsuit stated that the distributors had been classified as independent contractors, and all their dealings with Flowers and its customers were controlled by the company. Since the relationship reflected actual employment by Flowers, the distributors argued that they should have received overtime pay for the extra hours they worked over their regular shifts. In addition to the monetary settlement, the distributors' terms of employment now includes an arbitration agreement.

Distracted driving is a serious concern both in West Virginia and across the United States. With more people having access to cell phones and infotainment systems in vehicles than ever before, the number of distraction-related motor vehicle accidents continues to rise. Texting and driving is one of the most common and most dangerous forms of distracted driving.

Out of concern over the number of people using their phones behind the wheel, authorities and other groups have worked hard to communicate the dangers associated with texting and driving. While most people are aware that it is risky, they continue to do so. In fact, the number of people who admit to texting and driving has increased.