On February 26, 2020, couriers filed an overtime lawsuit against Associated Courier, Inc. d/b/a Street Fleet (“Street Fleet”). The couriers worked for the company delivering items such as auto parts and paperwork. The Complaint alleges Street Fleet misclassified couriers as independent contractors rather than employees and as a result did not pay them overtime compensation. The Complaint also details allegations of discriminatory treatment of immigrant and minority workers and retaliation toward couriers who lodged complaints with the company about its alleged unlawful practices.

The case is filed as a putative collective action under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and as a class action under Minnesota overtime law. It seeks to include couriers who worked for the company within the past three years, and requests compensation for unpaid overtime, liquidated (double) damages, and other available relief.

One of the couriers’ attorneys, Michele R. Fisher of Nichols Kaster, PLLP, explained, “We believe Street Fleet misclassified couriers as independent contractors. This scheme denied these workers overtime pay they are entitled to receive under employee wage and hour laws. Street Fleet did not treat its couriers like owners of their own businesses.  Rather, it controlled them as if they were its employees, but did not pay them the overtime pay to which employees are entitled to receive under the law.  We seek to hold the company responsible for the overtime wages these couriers were denied and to get answers to questions about its pay practices that it retaliated against couriers for asking.”

Plaintiffs are represented by Michele R. Fisher of Nichols Kaster, PLLP, which has offices in Minnesota and California, and Joshua A. Newville of Madia Law, LLC in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The case is entitled, Abdul-Ahad et. al. v. Associated Courier, Inc. d/b/a Street Fleet, Case No. 0:20-cv-00607-PJS-HB (D. Minn.)

Street Fleet is a courier and delivery services company that operates in Minnesota and neighboring states.

Additional information about the case and how couriers can make a claim can be found by calling Madia Law LLC at 612.349.2729.

We previously wrote about our $1.2 million jury verdict in federal court in North Dakota on behalf of a physician who was terminated after he spoke out against his clinic’s discriminatory treatment of a colleague.  The Court has since ruled on both parties’ post-trial motions, and ultimately raised the award to $2.1 million.

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Aaron Benner started teaching at St. Paul Public Schools in 1995 and earned immediate praise for his outstanding results and devotion to students.  He earned tenure in 1999 and was nominated for Minnesota Teacher of the Year in 2005.  He was the only black male teacher at Johnson Elementary during the 2014-15 school year.

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Dr. Robert Roswick worked as a family practice physician at Mid Dakota Clinic in Bismarck, North Dakota.  He felt that Mid Dakota’s CEO and Board of Directors were racially discriminating against an Indian-American colleague of his by pushing forward with termination without allowing the colleague the same due process rights afforded to other shareholders at the Clinic.

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(Minneapolis; March 7, 2019)—Alice James will join Attorney General Keith Ellison and Department of Human Rights (MDHR) Commissioner Rebecca Lucero in suing a plasma collection company for its discriminatory ban on donations by transgender persons.

In 2011, Ms. James began donating plasma at CSL Plasma locations in Minnesota. For nearly four years, CSL refused to acknowledge Ms. James’ gender identity. In 2015, CSL stopped allowing Ms. James to donate plasma, citing a company policy barring transgender persons from making such donations. That policy violates the Minnesota Human Rights Act. In 2016, Ms. James filed a discrimination complaint with the MDHR. That complaint led to the lawsuit filed this week by the MDHR and Attorney General.

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Madia Law’s Joshua Newville has been selected to serve on the Federal Practice Committee for the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. The Federal Practice Committee works with the Court to improve the administration of justice in Minnesota’s federal courts. Newville was nominated to the Committee in 2018 by United States District Court Judge Patrick J. Schiltz. Newville will serve on the Committee from January 2019 to December 2021.

Before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employers were free to discriminate against employees for almost any reason – whether it be their race, religion, or, of course, their gender.  Even after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, employers continued to post gender- (and race-) specific help-wanted ads:

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The cases brought in the names of Philando Castile, Terence Crutcher, Tamir Rice and Freddie Gray never made it to trial. Each was brought to a halt earlier in the civil court process. This is an all-too-common occurrence, says Joshua Newville, a civil rights attorney in Minneapolis.

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