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Amazon Prime Now Drivers File Suit & Claim They Were Paid Less Than Minimum Wage


Last week, four former Amazon Prime Now drivers sued Amazon and a carrier service, Scoobeez,and alleged the company violated minimum wage and overtime pay laws.  For those not familiar with Amazon Prime Now, the company now offers one to two hour delivery for many of its products in select cities around the country.  

Note, the former drivers were not actually Amazon employees but instead were identified as "independent contractors" working on behalf of Scoobeez that apparently had a contract with Amazon.  Since these drivers do not work directly for Amazon, the company does not have to be concerned with payroll taxes, workers' compensation or unemployment insurance taxes.  Since the drivers were classified as independent contractors, Scoobeez also did not have to cover these costs.  As a result, the drivers had to cover their own work related costs such as vehicles, gas, insurance, etc.  

These drivers have alleged that after paying their own automobile expenses, their wages fell below California's minimum wage rate of $9/hour.  In addition, the drivers were apparently also not paid the required time and a half overtime rate either.  As with any good wage and hour case, these drivers allege they were improperly classified as independent contractors rather than employees.  

As of now, there has been no comment from Amazon or Scoobeez on the suit.  It will be interesting to see where this case goes...and whether Amazon continues to offer Amazon Prime Now.


A copy of the complaint can be found here:  big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/amazonprimenow.pdf

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