More than 15,000 Amazon contract drivers file legal claims asking for compensation for overtime and unpaid wages
CNN
More than 15,000 Amazon contract drivers filed arbitration claims against the e-commerce giant on Tuesday, alleging Amazon classified them as independent contractors instead of employees with minimum wage and overtime rights.
More than 15,000 Amazon contract drivers filed arbitration claims against the e-commerce giant on Tuesday, alleging Amazon classified them as independent contractors instead of employees with minimum wage and overtime rights. Millions of Americans participate in the “gig economy,” freelancing work through delivery and ride apps like Lyft, Uber, Doordash and Instacart. But as gig work has gotten more popular, many of those workers say they are in fact employees, not just contractors, and therefore deserve more benefits and protections. The definition and rights of a contract worker versus an employee, for example, has been fiercely debated in laws such as California’s Prop 22, which allows ride-hailing and delivery drivers to be treated as independent contractors with some added benefits, including a minimum earnings guarantee. Amazon Flex, launched in 2015, allows independent contractors to sign up to deliver Amazon packages. Flex drivers provide Amazon Fresh grocery deliveries or same-day deliveries from the company’s warehouse hubs. Since the drivers are classified as independent contractors, these claims ask for compensation for unpaid wages and overtime, and reimbursement for expenses such as mileage and cell phone usage. Lawyers for the case said in a statement that about 450 such claims had been previously filed with the American Arbitration Association. Drivers from California, Massachusetts and Illinois filed claims because laws about employee misclassification are “very clear” in those states, attorney Steven Tindall told CNN. The three states also allow workers to file claims for expense reimbursement from employers, Tindall added.
Thanksgiving dinner will cost less this year than last but will still be 19% higher than before the pandemic, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual Thanksgiving survey out Wednesday.
Comcast is planning to spin off most of its cable television networks, including MSNBC and CNBC, into a separate publicly traded company, according to executives with knowledge of the plan.
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has sued a court-appointed bankruptcy trustee and the families of some of the Sandy Hook victims in an attempt to stop the sale of his media empire Infowars to the satirical news outlet The Onion.
The cat’s out of the bag: Jaguar has unveiled a new logo that emphasizes its posh pronunciation as it transitions into a “new era” that emphasizes its all-electric vehicle lineup.
Markets sold off Tuesday as geopolitical tensions escalated between Ukraine and Russia.
Protesters opposed to Tesla’s expansion of its plant near Berlin were holding out in trees Tuesday as German police sought to clear their forested camp.
Jersey Mike’s Subs is selling a significant stake to private equity giant Blackstone, ending its nearly seven-decade run as an independently owned business that transformed into a major competitor against well-entrenched competitors like Subway.
Walmart’s business is surging. Customers making more than $100,000 a year are fueling the growth.
The president-elect’s plan to deport millions of undocumented immigrations may backfire, driving up the cost of homebuying even further.
In the first quarter of this year, the price of bitcoin broke records in the wake of approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission for the first exchange-traded spot bitcoin funds. The cryptocurrency topped $70,000 in March, according to coinmarketcap.com.
Donald Trump is returning to the White House without many of the guardrails of his first term.