This class action brings suit against Goya Foods, Inc. and assorted individuals and unknown parties over the misclassification of certain workers as independent contractors and “us[ing] that improper classification to unlawfully deduct wages from their pay.” The complaint alleges that the deductions made violate the New Jersey Wage Payment Law (NJWPL), the New Jersey Civil RICO Act, and other New Jersey laws as well as common law.
Goya has around fourteen distribution centers around the US. It sales people visit retailers, who then place orders for Goya products. The orders are delivered the following day.
Goya designates some of the truck drivers who deliver these orders as independent contractors. The plaintiff in this case, Anibal Mejias, worked for Goya as a truck driver in South Carolina from around May 2018 until around May 2019. The complaint alleges, “The Goya truck drivers, such as [Mejias], are misclassified as owner operators/independent contractors but in reality [they] are employees of Goya.”
The complaint points out a number of things that allegedly prove that the drivers are employees. For example, it notes that employees make stops based on delivery tickets issued by Goya and do not deliver to other customers. Also, the complaint says, “Goya’s truck drivers are provided a loaded trailer each night with delivery instructions with quantities and locations and truck drivers exercise no meaningful control over their deliveries.” Goya has also provided drivers with XRS handheld devices to track the trucks’ locations, hours and mileage.
While the drivers had little control over their work, the complaint alleges that amounts were deducted from their wages as if they were independent contractors. Those amounts included costs and fees associated with the leasing of vehicles, fuel and maintenance, insurance, the rental of trailers and other equipment, administrative fees, returned and damaged product costs, and other things.
Goya also did not pay the truck drivers the paid time off, vacation and holiday pay, and other compensation benefits that employees earned.
The class for this action is all truck drivers for the defendants in this case, between September 4, 2014 and the present, who were designated as independent contractors or owner operators and from whom the defendants unlawfully withheld wages by deducting costs and fees associated with drivers’ leasing vehicles, for fuel and maintenance costs, insurance, rentals of trailers and other equipment, administrative fees, returned and damaged products, and other deductions not allowed by governing law.
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Employment
Most Recent Case Event
Goya Foods Misclassification of Truck Drivers as Independent Contractors Complaint
September 4, 2020
This class action brings suit against Goya Foods, Inc. and assorted individuals and unknown parties over the misclassification of certain workers as independent contractors and “us[ing] that improper classification to unlawfully deduct wages from their pay.” The complaint alleges that the deductions made violate the New Jersey Wage Payment Law (NJWPL), the New Jersey Civil RICO Act, and other New Jersey laws as well as common law.
Goya Foods Misclassification of Truck Drivers as Independent Contractors ComplaintCase Event History
Goya Foods Misclassification of Truck Drivers as Independent Contractors Complaint
September 4, 2020
This class action brings suit against Goya Foods, Inc. and assorted individuals and unknown parties over the misclassification of certain workers as independent contractors and “us[ing] that improper classification to unlawfully deduct wages from their pay.” The complaint alleges that the deductions made violate the New Jersey Wage Payment Law (NJWPL), the New Jersey Civil RICO Act, and other New Jersey laws as well as common law.
Goya Foods Misclassification of Truck Drivers as Independent Contractors Complaint