Amazon Flex drivers allege they were wrongfully denied wages

Amazon Prime Now bags are loaded for delivery outside a Whole Foods store on Feb 8, 2018, in Cincinnati. Thousands of delivery drivers filed legal claims against Amazon on June 11, 2024, alleging the company’s classification of them as independent contractors instead of employees has led to unpaid wages and other types of financial loss. — AP

More than 15,750 people who delivered packages for Amazon.com Inc’s Flex service filed arbitration claims on June 11, arguing the company wrongly denied them wages and other compensation, lawyers for the drivers said.

The cases, filed in California, Illinois and Massachusetts by attorneys with Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC and Gibbs Law Group, claim the drivers should have been classified as employees, making them eligible for unpaid wages, overtime and reimbursement for expenses like personal car mileage and cell phone use. The firms had previously filed 450 such claims with the American Arbitration Association, they said in a statement.