Second IRS Determination for FedEx Ground Driver as Employee - July 21, 2006

The hard-working legal team representing the drivers in the multi-district litigation against FedEx Ground sent out a revised press release on June 20.  We now learn from the lawyers that there are two - count 'em 1 and 2 - drivers that have received final determinations from the IRS that the drivers were in fact employees and not "contractors."  Here are the revised paragraphs from the later press release from Lynn Faris. 

The Internal Revenue Service has reaffirmed its earlier decisions that two FedEx Ground drivers, one in Wisconsin the other in Missouri, were employees of the company and not independent contractors, as FedEx claimed.  As a result, the drivers should have not been liable for Social Security and other employment taxes the government requires a true independent contractor pay, according to the final decisions in both cases the IRS issued July 12.

The cases involving former Wisconsin driver Sharon Pagels and Florissant, Missouri driver Rolando C. Thomas focus on the issue of worker status classification and the IRS Form S-88 filing.  The decisions could have far reaching consequences for the company, according to Lynn Rossman Faris, Esq., the Oakland, California-based attorney who is lead counsel nationally in the 35 consolidated cases challenging FedEx's claim that its drivers are independent contractors.

We're still waiting for some reporter to ask the FedEx mouthpieces about those so-called "100 cases."  Reporters need to find out what carries more weight in the ongoing litigation: two IRS determinations from 2006 or a South Carolina Human Affairs Commision decision from January 1991?