A federal court decision involving an Illinois trucking company and that state’s employment law could bring about a “slew” of lawsuits against any carriers that operate in the Land of Lincoln, a trucking-focused law firm warns.
The decision last week by Judge Manish Shah in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois looked to the B prong of the ABC test that determines whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor. While the test is most closely associated with California’s AB5 independent contractor law, it is also part of Illinois’ Wage and Payment Collection Act.
In a note to clients, Scopelitis law firm said the finding in the case that there is no minimum number of miles that must be driven in Illinois to bring a carrier under the state’s Wage Act could have impact well beyond what is typical when a federal court rules on the provisions of one state’s law.
The lead plaintiff in the case is Andrey Prokhorov, who was a driver for an Illinois-based company, IIK Transport. The case also was granted class status so the plaintiffs include a much larger group of drivers who worked for IIK Transport.
Shah, summing up the issues in the case, said the plaintiffs alleged that IIK had incorrectly taken deductions from drivers’ pay and had not reimbursed drivers for expenses in violation of the Wage Act. IIK was able to do this, according to the summary, by “misclassifying drivers as independent contractors, who are not protected by the Act.”
Regarding the risk of increased litigation against trucking companies, Scopelitis zeroed in on a part of the decision dealing with the IIK’s argument that “Prokhorov and other defendants did not perform enough work in Illinois to claim protection under the Act.”
Shah said that an earlier decision on the subject “did not … establish a minimum threshold for coverage” under the Wage Act.
And that could be a problem, according to Scopelitis. Any trucking company that operates in Illinois, even if it isn’t based in the state and drives only a small number of miles there, could find itself subject to the provisions of the act, the firm said in its note.
“Although a decision by a federal district court concerning the application of Illinois law is not binding on other courts, the plaintiffs’ bar will point to this opinion as persuasive authority,” Scopelitis said. “And we anticipate that this decision may prompt a slew of claims against interstate motor carriers that operate in Illinois.”
