U.S. port truck drivers have won an historic precedent-setting victory against one of America’s most prominent shipping companies, with seven drivers being awarded more than $2 million ($2,026,483) in unlawful payroll deductions and expenses as part of a wage theft scheme perpetrated by Pacer Cartage, Inc. Superior Court Judge Jay M. Bloom has issued a ruling thatPacer Cartage, Inc. is guilty of misclassifying its employees as “contract laborers” in a complicated wage theft scheme where low-income truck drivers were forced to lease their trucks from a Pacer Cartage affiliate corporation. The drivers were unaware that the trucks they were leasing were actually owned by Pacer Cartage. The unlawful scheme subjected the drivers to abnormal and abusive leasing terms including being forced to make involuntary payments on the leases from payroll checks, being prohibited from using the trucks for other business ventures or shipping companies, and being forbidden from driving their trucks home, or parking them in the lots of their choice. Payments for the leases were deducted from the drivers’ paychecks automatically. The seven drivers were awarded $2,026,48 in a landmark decision that lead attorney Alvin Gomez says “will forever reshape the United States trucking industry.” “This is a tremendous victory in the fight against misclassification,” said Mr. Gomez of San Diego-based Gomez Law Group, counsel for the Pacer drivers. “We believe that these decisions, coupled with the lawsuits that we have recently filed and those we intend to file in coming weeks, will force the drayage industry to make long overdue changes in their business practices to comply with state and federal labor laws.” Mr. Gomez has also announced that he has added the resources of the San Diego law firm of Aguirre & Severson to help with his burgeoning case load. “Mr. Aguirre was the former attorney for the United Farm Workers Union, stepping in when Cesar Chavez died during the trial,” says Gomez. “He has years of experience in complex labor litigation.” According to attorney and co-counsel Maria Severson, “This decision is the result of 4 years of hard work by a skilled trial lawyer dedicated to stopping trucking companies from taking advantage of hard-working employees who were fearful of losing their jobs if they complained about intolerable working conditions and low pay.” According to Gomez, “Many drivers went weeks without receiving any pay, but they continued working with the hope that the company would eventually pay them for the money they were owed. Many drivers felt they had no choice except to quit under the ever-present threat that they would be sued if they stopped paying for the company truck and other expenses that the company should have borne itself. Many of the drivers are legal immigrants who have understandable reservations about the legal system due to the inequities and inequalities they personally experienced in their home countries including Mexico, Korea and several countries in Central America. However, as a result of the progress being made against trucking companies like Pacer, drivers are now learning more about their employee rights and are appreciating the value and strength of uniting together with their fellow aggrieved workers to address workplace injustices collectively. Drivers are demanding the fundamental rights that every worker across the nation should inherently enjoy, regardless of race, gender, color or creed – that is to say, in exchange for an honest day of work, a driver should receive an honest day of pay and should be treated with fairness, equality, dignity and respect. The decision against Pacer gets us all one step closer to this goal; but, the fight continues and there is much more work ahead of us.” “More cases like this are on the way” says Gomez, who warns drivers who are being defrauded by unlawful wage leasing schemes to proceed with caution. “Drivers should contact the Teamsters to learn more about their case. They should also make sure that if they join a legal action, that the attorneys who represent them are experienced trial and labor attorneys who have a history of winning landmark legal decisions.”