Update:
The Wisconsin Supreme Court issued a ruling Tuesday, saying the high court's review of the Appeals Court ruling favoring the workers is "dismissed as improvidently granted."
The Wisconsin AFL-CIO welcomes the ruling, saying it "means Amazon Flex drivers are due additional rights and benefits, including access to unemployment compensation."
State Rep. Christine Sinicki (D-Milw.) adds, "I hope these decisions will act as firm guideposts for businesses, workers and the lower courts, when it comes to classifying workers in the transportation gig economy."
Original post from Dec. 20, 2023:
'Tis the season for delivery drivers to be extra busy. But you might understand if some of them and other so-called gig economy workers are also paying attention to a legal case that was argued before the Wisconsin Supreme Court Tuesday.
In Amazon Logistics v. LIRC, Amazon asked the high court to reverse an appeals court ruling, and the findings of a state labor review commission that determined 1,000 of what Amazon calls "delivery partners" were wrongly classified by the company as independent contractors rather than employees.
The state ordered Amazon to pay more than $200,000 in delinquent unemployment insurance taxes.
When Amazon took the matter to trial court, a Waukesha County judge ruled in the company's favor. However, appellate judges in Madison accepted the state's finding that Amazon only met five of nine factors under Wisconsin law that apply to whether to classify someone as an independent contractor instead of the required six factors.
Amazon's lawyer Michael Kenneally told the State Supreme Court that the company's case has been based on what managers saw.
"Our evidence is from managers who had personal observations of how the program worked and how delivery partners performed their work. And they testified to what those delivery drivers do as a class, " Kenneally said.
But attorney Ryan Farrell, representing the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, said the case has several prongs.
"This case is not only about protecting unemployed workers from economic uncertainty. It's also about maintaining a level playing field for all Wisconsin businesses. When Wisconsin businesses misclassify their workers, they gain an unfair competitive advantage against their competitors," Farrell said.
Farrell argued the state court's longstanding precedent has been to find the state's unemployment law should be construed as in favor of coverage for unemployed workers.
The court will rule later on the Amazon case.
This week, the Wisconsin AFL-CIO said that the case has wider implications for the gig economy, where many workers considered independent contractors — the labor federation argues —have been deprived of overtime pay, minimum wage, and unemployment insurance.
Editor’s note: A portion of the audio is from WisconsinEye.
