Mega-carrier Knight-Swift as agreed to pay current and former drivers $100 million as part of a settlement deal. This will bring an almost decade-long legal battle to an end.
Before Swift Transportation merged with Knight, it faced a class action lawsuit brought by a group of truck drivers. Swift was calling its leased drivers ‘independent contractors,’ but the drivers claimed that they should have been classified as employees.
According to attorneys representing the truckers, Swift was failing to give their leased drivers the benefits that they should have enjoyed as employees. Swift automatically deducted money from drivers’ pay checks for lease payments, gas, maintenance, insurance, and more – all while failing to pay drivers even minimum wage.
To be eligible to join the class and receive a portion of the payment, drivers must have entered into an independent contractor agreement with Swift and leased one of their trucks prior to Jan. 1st, 2019. How much of a payout individual class members receive will be determined by multiple different factors including duration of employment. Even some drivers who drove for Swift as far back as 1999 may be eligible.
All told, approximately 19,000 current and former Swift drivers may be eligible to join the class. That means an average payout of approximately $5,000 per class member.
The lawsuit began back in 2009. It went to appeals multiple times. Attorneys even appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case. Very little progress was made until the Knight-Swift merger in 2017. Then, negotiations picked back up.
Even with a renewed interest in finally settling the issue, it wasn’t until other court rulings set precedents that Knight-Swift decided to settle.
Several courts found that minimum-wage laws did in fact apply to truckers. This meant drivers must be earning at least minimum wage for ALL hours spent “on-duty,” even hours not spent driving. A judge in one specific case against PAM Transport ruled in October that an OTR company driver should be entitled to minimum wage for 16 hours per workday.
But there was another problem: All of Swift’s lease operator contracts had included a forced arbitration agreement. Swift attorneys argued that the drivers didn’t even have the right to sue the company since they had agreed to settle all disputes through arbitration – not in courts.
Then, in January of this year, a case brought against New Prime, Inc. went to the U.S. Supreme Court. The court ruled unanimously that independent contractors like the owner-operators at Prime could not be bound by forced arbitration agreements.
While Knight-Swift hasn’t said anything to this effect, rulings like these may have pushed them to decide to settle with the drivers – and possibly for more money than expected. PAM Transport settled a similar case for $3.45 million in 2015. A year later, C.R. England settled for $2.35 million. But even once you take into account the number of drivers taking part in the class action suit, the $100 million Knight-Swift will be paying out is far more than other companies have paid.
Source: truckinginfo, overdrive, transportationnation, msn, businessinsider, independentcontractorcompliance, lexology, truckersreport, truckersreport, oregon
I am a truck driver who got hurt in the truck while off duty. Q1: will I be compensated through workmans comp? O am not an independent contractor but a hired employee.
You should have been entitled to workers compensation. Some companies started charging for disability, but I think workers compensation is required. It certainly should be since you’re in a dangerous line of work.
Companies can’t expect Drivers to give their all and get nothing in return but a slap in the face.
Apparently that’s not the case since these guys were fighting for at least minimum wage. Horrible. It’s like working for Air-Land out of Morton IL
I drove for swift, was wondering if i am included in this.
It said the date had to be before January 1, 2019. You had to be in an independent contract with them. That means leased a truck with them.
We’re you a driver are a leasee! Knight is just as dishonest as swift. Both companies treat their drivers like crap.
Swift is evil.
America’s business is, Zero sum game. All westernized mentality is zero sum game. Satan’s children destroying purpose of life.
You could always leave
I am not too apposed to the rulings. The majority of lease purchase programs force drivers to do things the company’s way. The driver and his family bare the burden of the unpredictable repair Bill’s, and the are enormous. A truck with 4-6k miles and cost over $30k a year in repairs.
4 to 6k miles is way under. 100k a year is not unheard of.
I’ve ran somewhere between 24-28K in the last 2 months roughly.. in a 65mph truck.. not bragging just agreeing that 4-6K is pretty much 1.5-2weeks
Driving = slavery it doesn’t matter you a company driver or contractor and working for who.
You are with the wrong company. It’s on you if you stay while being treated like a “slave”
How is it slavery? People make a choice to become truck drivers and can choose to change careers any time they want. It’s amazing how many people sign contracts without reading them. Then sue when they don’t like it. Unfortunately this is a frivolous lawsuit that made the lawyers some money.
$100 million dollar settlement doesn’t sound like something frivolous.
Frivolous? I’d like to have a piece of that frivolous pie. But I wasn’t stupid enough to drive for PAM or Swift.
Sure
Wish
I’d
Finished
Training
No one has a chain on your neck.
But, but, but there is a driver shortage !!!
That depends on how you put it. Are all loads brokers and shippers have have been delivered ? Yes. So this shortage means there are trucks available to drive. But- What would happen if all trucks will get filled? By supply and demand law there willbe toomany trucks for that number of loads, so price per mile will go down, and many companies will go out of budiness- that’s what started happening now when after good 2017 year as they say many guys created new companies- so 2019 loads not as good paying. Imagine what will happen if more trucks will get filled with drivers. If big companies bought too many trucks it’s their problem. Especially if they continue hiving drivers one day per week out, although they wouldn’t want it for themselves. Why would i work for them if i could start on Monday with the small company and be back home on Friday ?
They keep saying that cause most is what is called cheap freight and they can not find no one to haul it. Yet at same time we don’t have enough places to park for a 10 hr break much less your 30 min in the middle of the night.
Trucking companies should not be allowed to lease trucks, besides all it means is “ your paying them to drive there truck “
An asinine comment here. Anyone who doesn’t research the contract they sign, shouldn’t have lawyers correcting they’re mistakes with class action lawsuits.
Are you calling your own comment asinine?
Only because they don’t pay well OTR and treat drivers like crap. I made decent money out there but made more per hour local. Then there’s the OT pay and 10 x better benefits, sleeping in a comfy bed, shower in your own shower, good good, etc.
OTR truckers should be making $100k.
I agree. Drivers who own their own truck should be working for all owner-operator company. That way when it comes to sticking one truck with a $35-$50 bridge toll, you know it won’t be you just because company doesn’t reimburse you.
You have a lot of different factors to look at. Some where if you do by it out right your paying more than it is worth and all the maintance. Then you have those on a Lease where like one said they never own it.
Those two never really have a say in what they make fully per load cause it ends up split in three ways. Then when the driver get its split again. If the are an owner op owning the truck and trailer then they work straight from may different load board. These driver only work with the brokers and end up making a lot more than the other two.
That would depend on the contract! But never sign an agreement with prime. Lots of difference in a lease purchase agreement, which is just another form of financing the truck and a lease on a new truck which is actually you paying rent on the truck and you never own anything and you make two hundred a week, maybe. If a company cannot afford to buy trucks they need to go out of business.
Oh dear lordy, this just opened the door to a split wage package and even higher tax rates. When will all this help end? Soon I hope.
I work for swift back in between 2004 2005 and it was a problem then us drivers was having the same problem I also had the same problem with digby truck lines they end up getting bought out by Celadon I was supposed to go and work for knight I chance my mind sounds like a good company but I don’t like that sliding pay scale because if I lease a truck I don’t want my pay scale changing I work for Titan transfer it was ok in the in the beginning I have 16 years of driving and you going to pay me 36 cent a mile I made more in that at FedEx ground and any other company I work for but with titan they pick and choose who they want to give loads to making from 2-3-4 houndred a week and they don’t want you to quit I’m almost 40 I don’t have time to be loosing money because somebody don’t want to pay I got bill just like they do at first I thought I had a good dispatcher at titan a guy name Adam until I was not getting the miles I want and I got this new guy out of Memphis he was good but when it came to getting my dot card there doctor in Shelbyville TN was doing her job so to speak she was not doing the dot like most people if your blood pressure is high I can understand giving you a three month card ok cool but if you know that person is boarder line. Why let them good other there and keep driving I have some medicine I have to take I do understand she had to get the ok from my doctor and what they want she give but they want more about my other medications and they pissed my doctor off so she nope and I want to one of the doctors I know with FedEx and he found the problem and I got a year card but I didn’t tell titan because there was not going to take card so I give up driving trucks because it was stressing me out I been off work for going on 2 months I started with Uber and Lyft until I got into an accident getting hit from behind car been in the shop going on two months it’s done look brand new just wanting on to pick it up my insurance didn’t want to pay for it because I was doing ride share thanks to Uber for have a million dollar insurance on my car that I didn’t know about fix my car now that I got commercials insurance on my car now I’m other person didn’t have insurance thank God I had it.
Damn, that’s one long sentence
Driver! Do you know how hard it is to read a comment, especially a looooooong coment like yours, when the writer fails to use punctuation? In fact I only got through part of your message and had to stop reading. Please learn punctuation. They don’t teach that in american schools anymore? You can probably learn about commas and periods on-line. Read a few books. That goes for many of you truckers in the comment section. By writing this way you guys enforce an old, negative stereotype of us truckers being dumb.
I didn’t finish that manifesto either.
That is pennies to them.
Swift also made a broker available who they controlled. When freight was available in certain areas from the broker Swift instructed them no to make that freight available to us because they had freight that needed to be moved. Usually extremely heavy and short hauls.
Gary Stricklin you are correct.
Who are you people driving for? The comments below suggest the job of a trucker is slavery! If you are unhappy in your job, get a new one. Factory jobs are everywhere. Go make the products that go in my trailer or stfu and drive.
What are small companies fleet of 2 (one owner operator) plus dispatcher (myself) box trucks suppose to do? How can we afford employees? I dont get paid as the partner dispatcher. Paying minimum wage daily to go out a week to make 2 OTR runs, employer taxes and unemployment costs when drivers quit (had 1 to file). Brokers suppress the market with low pay. We pay for repairs and fuel. 51k in repairs in less than 1yr. Trucking is not business friendly either. Drivers choose when they want to work and quit when they want.
51k for repairs in less than a year on two trucks? Dude, doesn’t something sound wrong as in maybe you bought the wrong trucks?
Driving OTR for a mega carrier IS slavery. Anyone who says otherwise is either a company shill or one of the lucky few who drives for a small family outfit that treats them and pays them like they’re a human being.
I am so sad for the American people who have no idea who is going on.
All of you MORONS need to look up the definition of SLAVERY. I don’t care who you drive for, or for how long you’ve been doing it. There is NO SLAVERY, ANYWHERE in the United States, in ANY profession. You are free to leave ANYTIME you wish. Now, STFU and drive.
Oil I’m Mister Super Trucker everything is just great at my company. They treat me like the Golden Goddess I am and they kiss my butt. Trucking is the greatest for the company I work for cuz I am sweet and precious
LMFAO
Swift is not good.they fired me in other state and force me to take all my stuff out of the truck.and I have to abandon all my stuff and go back to state.there are really bad company
Average lawyers making banks out of money out of baby crying morons whow want to make eazy money. Cant be away from home but want to drive a truck. How much are they getting in return? $100? Keep letting these brain washing end lubers screw up the industry.
I drove for Knight, as a lease operator for 3 months I was getting paychecks of less then $200. each week.
I had to give up driving because I couldn’t pay Bill’s or survive on that kind of money. I left Knight December 2018.
You could work for Air-Land for 80 hours a week and earn $200 as well.
Funny. If they signed a lease to buy the truck and pay for fuel and all those other trucking associated cost. Then when it broke due to oh i don’t know either the last 15 leasers that were in it who couldn’t drive or there own inability to drive. Or even them not being prepared to own there truck cause they were a paycheck to paycheck person before. If you go out and buy and buy for these machines they will nickel and dime you to death.
That’s trucking. All of us who own our equipment have had something go wrong and it’s usually at the worst time. It’s not like driving a 4 wheeler you have to stay on top of the maintenance and listen and feel how the truck is running down the road. They are constantly talking to you with every bump squeak and grunt. I have a 98 Pete and i bought it in Jan 17 i was fortunate to also have been driving it for a year before so i knew her language. Knew what was already fixed and what needed to be. In the last 14 almost 15 months i have put in a tranny rebuilt the rear drive replaced all the rubber one injector rebushed the rear suspension along with castings and replaced the hangers and shackles on the steer. Pulled the a2a and radiator and cleaned as well as redid the entire ac system. Those were just major repairs. Not including regular maintenance. The only things i didn’t do myself was the tranny and rear drive. Every other service i do my self so i get under the truck and can look and touch. I guess i just rambled on. You get the idea. To my fellow brothers keep on rolling.
What it does not say is (about) how much each plaintiff will get? Lawyers, court costs, and Appeals might eat up the settlement.
Well if you do the math and read the article it tells you that swift settled for 100 million so no appeal and it states each of the 19000 will get $5000 but it doesn’t tell you what percentage of the settlement the attorneys are to receive so figure each person gets $2000.
How do you get in on this settlement? I leaned several trucks with them.
Leased!
They estimate about $5,000.
Wonder what other Trucking companies are doing the same thing?
Knowingly they were doing this, a 100 million is a slap in the driver’s face and a pat on the back to the companies involved. Recruiters knew this as well as the driver managers, they should be law suited as well.
Some of you sound like children.. I agree with ALEX K,…And what caught my attention was that ALL drivers Must be paid something while ON DUTY.?
So imagine all that time waiting to be loaded/unloaded/truck repairs/office company related/breakdowns/detention/orientation/ETC..!!!!!!
THAT we should be compensated for..
That’s why this WORK has turned into a slave trade..
This is an issue worth looking at by ALL drivers…
Why these companies get drivers I don’t know. I’ve said it before and will say it again. Truckers are the dumbest part of American society, getting screwed left and right, will complain all day long but don’t do anything about it. Leave the damn job and go where you can make some money.
I worked for swift transportation from july 2000 as owner operator till October 2004 how can I get in contact with the lawyers in this class action against swift transportation?
Who do you contact to see if you are eligible
I was a lease operator for Swift from 2016 until Jan of 2018. How do you find out if you are included in the settlement?
I worked for Swift in truck recovery out of Jonestown, Pa. back in 2000. There was a terminal manager who walked around armed because of how nasty he was to not only the drivers but to everyone. He and driver manager who kept on telling people as a warning “I’m an ex-marine” to intimidate the driver. Several times he said it to the wrong driver. I heard him tell a driver who happed to be late with a load to take some money and fill the tank because the company lost money on a late load. I swear to all of you that you would not believe how some of those driver managers treated their drivers. Race was never a factor in their cruelty. They did it to all of their drivers and many of those driver managers were the reason why they quit. Thanks to the tolls in the N.E. it was not unusual for drivers to pull their trucks over and abandon them on the side of the rode or in the middle of a freeway blocking traffic. One driver even dropped his trailer across three toll booths in Md. at the toll booth. The poor guy had gotten so many advances to pay tolls he sometimes had ZERO in his pay because the driver manager had put in the pay request.
With this ruling, I’m just curious if this will be a stepping stone for lease operators to file lawsuits against other companies who do the same thing as swift and in most cases worse,(screwing the drivers over seems to be the industry standard)
They should do away with leasing trucks to people and lying to them, and not following through with their crap. Through any major companies, when they tell u what to do or where to go or how fast or truck should run. When u are paying for the fuel, and footing the Bill’s of the vehicle. Period. I have my own truck now, and trailer. After I left swift. Am doing better. I can leave and go anywhere I choose and do what needs to b done with my truck. Period. Now. I’m sorry I did not listen to my friend. When I was working at swift, and sorry, that I had ever gotten involved with that company at all. No.1 big mistake after 43 years of driving I thought I found a good company to work for, but now I know and you might say I refresh my memories of being an owner op. I know not to do things like that any more…
Most companies, not all, has some way or another to always screw drivers over, if it isn’t through the freight cost its through other ways, fuel surcharges no pay increases, no detention pay. They play the games, to intimidate, harass, etc.. till each one of you are brainwash into submission. But once you figure their games out, you are no longer useful to them. Been this way for years.
There is no driver shortage, it’s just people learn the games they play , so you quit or get fired…
Sorry if someone is stupid enough to stick around after the first check… They deserve the second one.
I’m glad the mammoth trucking outfit’s finally had their decades old “never-never lease” racket back-fire in their face.
OMG. How many times do these clowns have to be sued?!? I was part of a Knight class-action. I was one of the class leaders as well which meant an enhancement payment as the cherry on top of the other funds. Oh well, guess some folks have that kind of money to burn.
I was lease operator for a year and a half couldn’t take no more of it, over charge me for everything. In 2017 and 2018. My ranch burnt to the ground and all my houses, and my mom passed away 2 weeks later. July 1st. Mom died July 13th. They never paid me for lots of things including ripping me off on detention, and fuel surcharge , I took my truck back and told them to make their own truckk payments, they are thieves….people trusted them. So all had reasons to trust them, to do the right thing, but they never fell through with their promises.. we paid repairs, fuel cost and barely any fuel surcharge, hardly ever detention pay.
They lie, and stole your money and smile at you while they were smiling at you, stabbing u in the back.
After driving with swift for 7 years 4 lease 3 company. I ended up owing the IRS over 80,000$ because Atbs didn’t file my returns right. So now I drive for fed ex and live it. I liked swift, but when my son wanted to team with me, they just couldn’t get me the miles. Ended up sitting at truck stops, and terminals more than driving. So as everyone else is asking, how do we sign up for this?