Lawsuit Alleges Knight Transportation Drivers Owed Pay for Missed Breaks, Wage Deductions, Business Expenses

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

A proposed class action alleges Knight Transportation and its affiliates have unlawfully failed to provide drivers with proper meal and rest breaks, as well as pay the workers all due wages and properly reimburse business expenses.

The lawsuit claims defendants Kold Trans, LLC; Knight Transportation Inc.; Knight Refrigerated, LLC; and Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc., who operate a nationwide trucking business that offers various transportation services, have violated the California Labor Code by denying drivers certain statutory rights to which they are entitled under the state law.

The plaintiff, who is currently employed by the defendants as a non-exempt driver, claims he and other drivers are not provided with uninterrupted 30-minute meal breaks and 10-minute rest breaks or one hour of premium wages in lieu of each missed break. According to the case, the workers’ job demands and pressure from management frequently prevent them from taking uninterrupted breaks, and sometimes cause them to skip meal and rest periods altogether. As a result, the drivers’ wage statements are “inaccurate and false,” the lawsuit claims.

The case goes on to allege that drivers receive wages through a Knight Transportation credit card from which they can transfer up to 99 percent of their pay to their personal bank accounts. Per the suit, the remaining one percent of the workers’ wages can only be obtained through a withdrawal that’s subject to bank fees. The lawsuit argues that because drivers are unable to obtain the full amount of their wages without paying between $3.00 and $7.00 in fees, the charges amount to an unlawful deduction of wages by the defendants.

The case further alleges that Knight drivers are often unable to properly use the defendants’ computer system to communicate with dispatch given the system frequently fails to work properly or causes delays that impact the workers’ ability to perform their duties. As a result, drivers are often forced to use their personal cell phones to communicate with the defendants, and thereby incur phone-related business expenses that go unreimbursed by their employers.

Lastly, the suit alleges that Knight has “made it very difficult” for workers to determine whether they have been properly paid given the apparent inaccuracies in drivers’ wage statements.

Get class action lawsuit news sent to your inbox – sign up for ClassAction.org’s newsletter here.