New Prime v Oliveira (Arbitration)

Court holds an independent contractor truck driver can not be forced into arbitration because the 1925 arbitration act excludes transportation workers who are engaged in interstate commerce.  Also holds that “independent contractors” are considered to have signed “contracts of employment” even though they are not in an explicit employer employee relationship.

Full disclosure: as a long time truck driver, i have long known companies like new prime, swift, and cr england, to be engaged in preying on brand new truck drivers with their “lease purchase, independent contractor” agreements.

Most of the industry knows it, and if you sat down at any truck stop lunch counter and said “i’m thinking of signing a lease with [one of the previously mentioned companies]” you would quite litterally hear a chorus of veterans telling you not to — an instant groan, and a bunch if people truly trying to help the new guy from making a huge mistake.

So i’m quite glad this went the way it did.