Case: Wage & Hour/Independent Contractors (D.N.M.)

A FedEx driver in New Mexico was an independent contractor, rather than an employee entitled to overtime protections under the state Minimum Wage Act, because the compensation system that paid her delivery business per package and stop, not by the hour, falls under the MWA’s piecework exception. Therefore, her class action on behalf of other FedEx drivers in the state is dismissed because the finding that she wasn’t an employee under the MWA likely applies of all potential class members; if not, those members arguing that their circumstances remove them from the piecework exemption would require individualized inquiries that make ...