Judge orders drayage provider to reclassify contract port drivers as employees

An Administrative Law Judge has ruled that Intermodal Bridge Transport’s practice of “misclassifying employees as independent contractors” is an “unfair labor practice” and a violation of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act.    An Administrative Law Judge has issued a ruling in which he ordered New Jersey-based Intermodal Bridge Transport, a trucking contractor for retailer Target, to cease and desist from misclassifying its contract port truck drivers as independent contractors and recognize them as employees.
   In a decision handed down Nov. 28, ALJ Dickie Montemayor said he agreed with the Teamsters that IBT’s “misclassifying employees as independent contractors” is an “unfair labor practice” and a violation of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act.
   The Teamsters union, which for years has orchestrated a campaign to gain employees’ rights for the drayage truckers who haul goods to and from seaports, originally filed charges against Intermodal Bridge Transport in 2015, alleging that the company was specifically trying to stop its drivers from gaining employee status in order to prevent them from unionizing.
   Among the accusations against the company were that it interrogated drivers by polling them to ascertain who supported unionization; that it expressed futility of the union organizing campaign; that it threatened pro-union drivers with unspecified reprisals and suggested that they leave the company.
   The charges filed by the Teamsters included an allegation that misclassifying workers as “independent contractors” is in and of itself a violation of the National Labor Relations Act.
   In his Nov. 28 ruling, Montemayor ordered IBT “within 21 days after service” to “cease and desist” from “misclassifying employees as independent contractors,” “interrogating,” threatening” and “coercing” employees.
   The company, which is headquartered in Secaucus, NJ and has also offices in Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Long Beach, Calif., North Charleston, SC and Savannah, Ga., was also ordered to rescind in writing any company documents such as predatory lease agreements that “purport to classify employees as independent contractors,” and to post a notice stating that it would not misclassify employees as independent contractors.
   The ALJ’s ruling came after multiple labor strikes by drivers at IBT, legal claims for wage theft and a class action lawsuit, mostly organized by the Teamsters.
IBT, which is a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned COSCO Group, has operations across the U.S., including at the Los Angeles, Long Beach and New York-New Jersey seaports. Its main customers include Target, General Electric, Trek Bicycle, Sony and Amazon.
   The company has so far declined to comment on the ALJ’s decision and has yet to indicate whether it will appeal the ruling.