A judge in Arizona ruled the companies must pay the drivers the employer wrongly classified as independent contractors.
The US Department of Labor says a national auto parts distributor and its delivery company didn’t pay employees properly over eight years to the tune of over $5.6 million, and now the agency is looking for current and former employees to claim their share of the backpay and damages.
Labor officials said Parts Authority Arizona LLC and Arizona Logistics Inc., which operated as Diligent Delivery Systems, misclassified drivers as independent contractors from April 2012 through March 2020.
The department’s Wages and Hour Division investigated and found Diligent Delivery Systems violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by not paying workers the minimum wage, not paying the overtime rate, and failing to keep the required records for timekeeping.
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A US District Court judge in Arizona ruled the companies must pay the drivers the employer wrongly classified as independent contractors.
“Investigators also found the company required employees to use their personal vehicles for deliveries and did not pay them when they did,” labor officials said in a press release.
Requiring employees to use their own vehicle is another violation of the FLSA.
Parts Authority has over 200 locations in the US and at least 12 in Arizona. Diligent Delivery Systems has 46 locations in the US, two in Arizona.
“We want to make sure that Parts Authority Arizona and Arizona Logistics workers receive all the wages and damages owed to them,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Eric Murray. “Workers may be difficult to locate when they change addresses or phone numbers, and they may not be aware they are owed back pay.”
If you worked for Parts Authority or Diligent Delivery Systems any time from April 2012 to March 2020, call 877-465-4898 between Monday and Friday between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. Arizona time to connect with the agency.
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Robert Gundran Robert Gundran grew up in the Southwest, spending equal time in the Valley and Southern California throughout his life. He graduated from Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism in 2018 and wrote for The Arizona Republic and The Orange County Register.
