Applies to: All Employers with Transportation Employees in AL, FL, GA
Effective: June 22, 2021
In Hamrick v. Partsfleet, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal reviewed whether final-mile delivery drivers—drivers who make local deliveries of goods and materials that have been shipped from out-of-state to a local warehouse—are in a “class of workers engaged in foreign and interstate commerce” and, thus, exempt under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) from having to arbitrate their Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) claims.
The court stated that for the FAA exemption to apply, the employee must be employed in the transportation industry and actually engage in the transportation of goods in interstate commerce. The focus is on what the worker actually does, not the goods themselves. Whether individuals are engaged in the interstate transportation of goods is a fact-finding determination. The court ultimately remanded the case to the lower court to make a factual determination on whether the workers met the exemption requirements.
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