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While it is impossible to guess how a judge will vote based on their questions during the oral argument, the traditional Conservatives of the court appeared skeptical of the trucking company's argument that work "only applied to employees.
"The mere fact that somebody is considered or not considered an employee does not necessarily answer the question of whether it is a contract of employment," said the spokesman. Chief Justice John Roberts at the lawyer of the new prime minister, Theodore Boutrous Jr., on Wednesday. "People naturally think of calling on an independent contractor."
Judge Neil Gorsuch, Trump's first representative at the court, questioned Boutrous on "the fact that there was" a lot of historical evidence, at the time of the law in question, that the "contract" "might have swept more widely?"
If independent contractors are exempt from the FAA, the impact on the trucking industry and on the economy in general could be significant. Given other obstacles facing the transport sector, such as capacity shortages and fears of a trade war, it is feared that consumers will see a price increase of "10, 15, 20%", according to J Bruce Chan, Vice President and Senior Analyst at Stifel Capital Markets, which covers logistics companies.
"Could it impose higher wages Yes, absolutely, it could be, would it be a good thing to have higher wages?" Yeah, I think that might be the case. think it would be the wrong way to raise wages, "Chan said. He added that the normal forces of supply and demand are better suited to raise wages.
The industry has seen the shortage of drivers worsen year by year, as low wages have failed to attract newcomers to a notoriously difficult job that may involve staying on the job. road for weeks or months.
Some trucking companies started offering higher wages and bonuses. In an industry where margins are low, many companies have turned to independent contractors, who can cost them up to 20% less in salaries, benefits and other costs than their employees, according to Chan.
Some of these independent contractors represent small fleet owners seeking to set up their own trucking business by outsourcing to several companies, although this model has been in decline since the 1970s.
In this case, Oliveira asserted that he had been misclassified because his work was "essentially identical to the responsibilities of the employed drivers". The new Premier dictated Oliveira's schedule, his vacation, his time at home and monitored his vehicle with an electronic tracking device.
Some judges seemed skeptical about the possibility for an employer to avoid a court hearing by classifying a worker as an "independent contractor", even though the work done was similar to the work done by traditional employees.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor, appointed by President Barack Obama, asked Wednesday that there was "another area of law in which we take party etiquette," employed "by" independent contractor ", and give it a binding effect? "
"Your Honor, I can not think of one," said Boutrous, New Prime's attorney.
There are no reliable estimates of the number of independent contractors in the trucking industry, and official figures are out of date, but Chan estimates that more than half of the transactions in the space involve an independent contractor. More than 500,000 trucks were operated by independent contractors in 2002, according to a count of the Census Bureau.
"In the end, we examine the inability of goods to move or, at least, a significant increase in costs for consumers," Chan said. "Target, Walmart, a trinket shop for moms and teens selling porcelain items on their online store, will all be subject to increased trucker costs, which will ultimately be passed on to the consumer."
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