Coverall North America Hit with Class Action Over Alleged Worker Misclassification, Unpaid Wages

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

Coverall North America, Inc. finds itself as the defendant in a proposed class action filed by two franchisees who allege workers at the cleaning services company have been unlawfully misclassified as independent contractors. Filed in Connecticut, the lawsuit says that as a result of the misclassification, Coverall workers have been required to remit large fees in order to obtain work, “which effectively amounts to Defendant requiring them to pay for a job.” Moreover, the plaintiffs say their pay is subject to a bevy of improper deductions, including franchise fees, insurance, administration fees, interest and charge-backs owed when a customer fails to pay for their work.

Coverall’s franchise agreements, the lawsuit says, require cleaning workers to be classified as independent contractors rather than employees. The case argues that the level of behavioral and financial control exerted by Coverall over the workers is indicative of an employer-employee relationship in that the defendant is the party that determines how much customers are charged, handles reprimands, and controls to which franchisees accounts are assigned. All told, Coverall workers, the case alleges, have not received proper minimum and overtime wages.