Lawsuit: CareFusion Solutions Denies Technicians Proper Compensation

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CareFusion Solutions, LLC is facing claims that it misclassified a group of its field service technicians as independent contractors in an effort to avoid paying proper compensation.

According to the lawsuit, the two named plaintiffs were hired by the defendant as contractors responsible for performing repair and maintenance services on the company’s healthcare products at customers’ facilities. The plaintiffs note that some of the defendant’s technicians were considered independent contractors, known as “affiliates,” while others were treated as employees. The lawsuit argues that affiliates such as the plaintiffs should have also been classified as employees due to the nature of their relationship with the defendant. The complaint lists the following reasons, among others, that affiliates should have been considered employees:

• The defendant exercises “substantial control” over affiliates’ job duties, such as requiring them to adhere to policies and procedures, specifying their response time to customer calls, demanding that they be “on-call” when not working for the defendant, and requiring a specific dress code;
• The defendant supplies all parts needed for affiliates to repair and maintain equipment;
• Affiliates are “specifically trained” to perform work on CareFusion products;
• Affiliates tend to work for the company for years;
• The defendant maintains the right to hire and fire affiliates; and
• The affiliates’ work is “part of the regular business of CareFusion.”

At the heart of the lawsuit is the defendants’ alleged failure to reimburse affiliates for business expenses, not to mention pay proper overtime wages and offer “the same financial benefits” that it grants to technician employees. The plaintiffs argue that they are forced to bear the costs of, among other expenses, operating their own vehicles to drive to and from customer locations; several types of insurance associated with their jobs; training and certificates; equipment, such as laptops, wireless hotspots, and cell phones; and health insurance and employment benefits. The complaint estimates that the plaintiffs incurred approximately $25,000 per year in business expenses for which they should have been reimbursed, plus allegedly unpaid wages for overtime hours and on-call time.

Originally filed in Delaware state court, the case has recently been removed to the District Court for the District of Delaware.