Long-Haul Truckers Are Contractors, Not Guaranteed Minimum Wage

Long-haul truckers who leased their trucks from Pathway Leasing LLC were independent contractors, rather than employees, and therefore weren’t subject to the minimum wage requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Tenth Circuit said Friday.

The plaintiffs leased their trucks from Pathway and then used them to haul freight for carriers like XPO Logistics Truckload Inc. They sued the two companies, saying that they intentionally misclassified them as independent contractors so they could deny them the statutorily required minimum wage.

The evidence presented during a bench trial before the US District Court for the District of Colorado showed: the ...