US Supreme Court Declines to Hear CTA Appeal, Regarding Port Truck Driver Misclassification

Port Drivers, Teamsters Applaud Development Protecting Drivers

The United States Supreme Court decisively rejected an appeal to the case of the California Trucking Association v. [California Labor Commission] Julie A. Su, whose office has consistently ruled that port truck drivers are misclassified as independent contractors.

“In rejecting the CTA’s appeal, the highest court in the land has effectively closed the case on predatory trucking companies’ efforts to dodge taxes and steal the hard-earned wages of drivers through a scheme that illegally classifies drivers as independent contractors,” said Fred Potter, Vice President at Large, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and Director of the Teamsters Port Division.

“Over the past four years, the California Labor Commissioner has ruled 36 separate times that my co-workers and I at NFI Industries are misclassified as independent contractors, awarding us $7.3 million in stolen wages. Most of these cases – including mine – are still under appeal by NFI. Now that the Supreme Court has rejected the industry’s appeals, I hope that I can finally be properly classified as an employee so that I can be paid for all my hours worked, have decent health insurance for my family, and have the protections properly classified employees are entitled to like disability and workers’ compensation,” said Gustavo Villa, port truck driver, NFI Industries/Cal Cartage Express.

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