Amazon delivery drivers in Canada launch $200-million class action suit
At least 2,500 subcontractors for the online retail giant are claiming unpaid wages
Amazon Canada is facing a new multimillion dollar class action claiming that its vast network of subcontracted delivery drivers are Amazon employees who have failed to receive adequate compensation and job protections.
The proposed lawsuit seeks $200 million in damages and was filed this month on behalf of at least 2,500 drivers employed by courier companies contracted by the online retail giant to deliver its parcels. The suit says despite the use of intermediaries, Amazon retains “effective control” over those drivers and is their true employer.
The class action alleges the drivers routinely failed to receive payment for all their hours worked and other entitlements like overtime pay, vacation pay, and meal breaks.
“This class action is significant not only to the class members who are directly affected by it, but to others who have found themselves stripped of basic employment rights because of the socalled new economy,” said lawyer Louis Sokolov of the Toronto-based law firm
Sotos LLP, which is spearheading the suit.
In a statement, an Amazon spokesperson said the company has “a longstanding practice of not commenting on pending litigation.”
“We disagree with the allegations and expect to fully disprove them,” the statement said.
Drivers who make deliveries through the company’s Flex app as independent contractors are also included in the class action, which describes them as being the victims of “systemic misclassification.” The suit alleges Flex drivers are not true independent contractors, but Amazon employees — with the right to minimum wage and overtime.
The class action must be certified by a court before it can proceed to trial. Sokolov said he expects that to happen early next year — and hopes the end result will be “meaningful compensation for regular folks.”
Denver Davis is the representative plaintiff for the class action, and is a former employee of All Canadian Courier — a company contracted by Amazon until 2018. The suit says while Davis was technically employed by All Canadian Courier, his training consisted of watching Amazon training videos on an Amazon branded tablet. He was told to identify himself as being from Amazon.
If Davis fell behind on his deliveries, the statement of claim says he would be “instructed to increase his pace” through Amazon’s “Rabbit” device, which works as a hand-held barcode scanner, phone, and GPS.
The suit also notes that All Canadian Courier initially operated “from a covered tent in the parking lot” of an Amazon warehouse before relocating to a nearby office space.
Davis was paid a flat rate of $160 a day, “no matter how long he worked,” the statement of claim says, adding that he typically started work at 8 a.m. and ended at 10 p.m.
“The plaintiff was never paid overtime pay or statutory holiday pay or premium pay despite working overtime hours and working on statutory holidays,” the statement of claim says.
The suit cites numerous examples of what it calls Amazon’s “substantial control” over delivery drivers’ working conditions in spite of the retail giant’s claim to have “no legal relationship” with them.
“In substance … Amazon effectively functions as the employer, or a common employer” the statement of claim says.
A Star investigation last year found that Amazon’s injury rates spiked when it introduced same-day delivery in Toronto in 2017 — deliveries that at the time were mostly made by subcontracted companies like All Canadian Courier.
That same year, All Canadian Courier delivery drivers voted in favour of a union. The suit says shortly after, drivers began receiving fewer shifts and the company began engaging workers through temp agencies instead.
In spring 2018, the company shut down entirely after Amazon stopped giving it delivery routes, the class action says.
Since then, the suit says Amazon has increasingly focused on its pool of Amazon Flex drivers, who pick up work through an app and are classified as independent contractors rather than employees — much like
Uber drivers.
Under Ontario law, independent contractors have no protection under employment laws and are not entitled to minimum wage and other basic entitlements.
The class action argues Flex drivers do not meet the legal definition of an independent contractor, in part because they cannot negotiate their own pay rates and are dependent on Amazon for their economic well-being. They must follow an itinerary generated by Amazon, and can’t make deliveries for other companies while working for Amazon.
“Drivers are under the watchful eye of Amazon throughout their shift. They have very little or no autonomy as to how they carry out their jobs,” Sokolov said.
The gig economy’s employment model, in which appbased workers are designated independent contractors rather than employees, is coming under legal scrutiny in Ontario.
In February, the provincial labour board ruled that couriers for food delivery app Foodora had been misclassified as independent contractors — the first ruling of its kind.
“There are a whole host of companies who are providing services in new and interesting ways and have designed third party delivery models in ways that effectively deny people basic employment rights,” Sokolov said.
“I think what we are seeing is regulators and administrative boards waking up to these fundamental changes that have been happening in our economy and attempting to react to them.”