LOS ANGELES, CA (January 11, 2016) — A new group of Los Angeles area truck drivers has filed a class action lawsuit today in Los Angeles Superior Court against three trucking companies.
The lead plaintiff, Horacio Lopez is suing PDS Transportation, Inc.; Intermodel Container Services, Inc.; dba Harbor Rail Transport and Pacer Cartage, Inc. for failing to pay wages, provide meal and rest breaks to its employee drivers, and other labor code violations and unfair business practices.
“This is one of the most pressing labor issues that directly impacts business at two of the nation’s busiest ports, Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach,” said the Founding and Managing Partner, Brian Kabateck of the law firm Kabateck LLP. “These lawsuits are the only way to expose the unfair labor practices that run rampant throughout the trucking industry,” said Kabateck.
KBK has filed more than a dozen class action lawsuits over the past year, which involves thousands of port truck drivers who were improperly classified as independent contractors rather than employees.
California truckers have filed hundreds of lawsuits stemming from the misclassification of employees as “independent contractors” which deprives these truckers of minimum wage, paid overtime, benefits, and meal and rest breaks provided to employee drivers and crewmembers.
9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that independent contractors deserve the same pay and protections as employees, under California law, because they signed independent contractor agreements and are doing the same work and are under the same control of the company as employees.