This may get interesting

While I think the general idea of leasing a truck from a company a useful option for some. And, it can have mutually beneficial outcomes for both driver and company. The devil is in the details on those lease agreements. Typically, the driver/leasee gets the way too short end of the stick and the company profits handsomely by moving too many expenses to the driver and not providing commensurate pay.
I'm curious to see where this all goes in the future. Not just this court case, but California AB5 and other similar efforts to address all this.

 

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--Lual

 

When a business hires a third party for services it is called outsourcing and is part of a contractor-client relationship.

When a business hires a “contractor” out of orientation, controls their business to the point that “contractor” has no business it is hard not to call the employee rather an independent contractor. Mind you, most of these “contractors” are not even legally allowed to engage in interstate commerce as a carrier.

I legitimately independent contractor would be a motor carrier providing a service to another or to a company that may or may not operate a fleet. Example, prime, jbhunt, and Walmart hire outside carriers as independent contractors to service their business.

 

The biggest reason the courts sided with the driver is because he was effectively unable to get freight from another carrier, when Schneider freight was unavailable or paid so poor as to be not worth hauling.

The whole California AB5 thing is going to have an impact nationally.
Among other things, the current law in California which exempts companies like Uber, Door
Dash, etc from the AB5 determination may wind up being ruled unconstitutional in California, which would really change things.

 

That's the price Schneider now has to pay for trying to force cheap freight on their drivers that then are forced to look elsewhere for decent loads.

 

Sure looks like the old way of trip leasing might be coming back or some form of it. Idk... We shall see.

 

There are certain stipulations that are set in the law with regards to federal labor laws and such. You can’t just drop your own scenario that crosses way over these criteria lines and then say someone’s an independent contractor. It’s like the full-time versus part-time employee. If you go over 30 hours in a week you are a full-time employee. It doesn’t matter what “agreement“ you made with the company you work for. The way you worked and the amount of time you work sets that criteria.

For lease operators it’s no different. There are set criteria and if you Cross that threshold in the other areas then you can be considered an employee. Or should be. Cannot sign a lease operator agreement with a company that completely owns you and treat you as an employee and tells you when and where to be and for how much. You’re not independent in that scenario…Well trucking companies have tried to do it that way but as they’re finding out these are by the criteria they set themselves employees. The courts just finally recognized it.

 

I get what you're saying but the part about being told where to be and when to be and for how much is not up to the carrier in some instances. The customers usually decide the where and when and how much not the carrier. Be interesting though how this plays out for guys that run on a dispatched mileage pay plan instead of self dispatch program. Those guys are definitely being told where and when and for how much.

Like the title says, this could get interesting.

 

IDK, sounds to me like Schneider is being sued because the dude was a poor business man. I never had trouble finding freight.......mostly because I usually didn't go to places that didn't have freight. And when I did, I knew the risks going in. Either haul cheap out, or deadhead. Either way, it was calculated on the trip in.

Seriously, while some lanes were less attractive than others, I never had a problem finding freight out.