Oklahoma Trucking Company Misclassified Drivers as Independent Contractors, Lawsuit Alleges

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A proposed class action claims Premier Trading and Transportation, LLC has misclassified truck drivers as independent contractors despite maintaining strict control over their job duties.

The 16-page lawsuit out of Oklahoma claims Premier, a freight trucking company that transports materials such as petroleum and crude oil throughout the state, and its supervisors should have classified drivers as bona fide employees and paid them proper minimum and overtime wages in accordance with state and federal law.

The case further alleges Premier failed to adhere to the terms of its contracts with the two plaintiffs, who respectively worked for the company from April 2018 to June 2020 and September 2018 to April 2020. Per the suit, although the defendant contracted to sell Peterbilt semi-trucks to the plaintiffs through financing agreements, the individuals were not permitted to use the trucks to perform services for other entities and remained under the strict control of Premier Trading and Transportation.

According to the lawsuit, the defendants treated truck drivers as employees, rather than independent contractors, including by:

• Refusing to allow drivers to use their vehicles to perform services for other entities besides Premier;
• Requiring drivers to use a provided fuel card to pay for gas and deducting the costs of such from their compensation;
• Not allowing drivers to obtain financing or purchase a vehicle through a third-party financing company or dealer;
• Requiring drivers to purchase insurance through Premier and deducting the cost of such from their compensation;
• Refusing to provide the trucks’ titles and other ownership documents to drivers even though they purchased the vehicles with a loan financed by Premier;
• Requiring drivers to report any spills and charging them a 10-percent markup on the cleanup costs; and
• Periodically requiring that drivers go through Premier for vehicle repairs.

The case alleges that neither of the plaintiffs had any say in the terms of their contracts with the defendant and were given no opportunity to modify the agreements.

The lawsuit argues that the defendant’s practice of misclassifying drivers as independent contractors deprived them of proper minimum and overtime wages.

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