Roadside Assistance Technicians Not Properly Compensated – Lawsuit Alleges
On June 30, 2017, Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. and co-counsel filed a class action and collective action lawsuit against Inman’s Auto Rescue of Fairfax, LLC of Manassas, VA.
The class action and collective action complaint alleges that defendant Inman’s Auto Rescue of Fairfax, LLC violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and Maryland wage, hour, payment and collection laws for failure to pay proper minimum wage and overtime wages for all hours of work performed by its Roadside Assistant Technicians who provide services to motorists in the mid-Atlantic region, which includes Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., whose vehicles have suffered a mechanical failure that leaves the operator stranded, such as getting a flat tire, being locked out of their car, running out of fuel, or a dead battery.
A Failure to Pay Proper Minimum Wage and Overtime Wages
Defendant Inman’s Auto Rescue of Fairfax, LLC, according to the complaint, failed to pay proper minimum wage and overtime wages for all hours of work performed by its Roadside Assistance Technicians by misclassifying its Roadside Assistance Technicians as “independent contractors” when they should be classified as employees.
As alleged in the complaint, defendant Auto Rescue of Fairfax, LLC is part of a large, nationwide network of affiliated roadside service companies that are owned and controlled by Michael K. Inman through his ownership of and control over a web of related entities, including Inman Management Services, Inc., Inman’s Auto Rescue LP, Inman Holdings, Inc., and Inman Affiliates, LLC.
A copy of the class action and collective action complaint can be accessed by clicking here: Auto Rescue of Fairfax, LLC Class Action Complaint.
What can I do if I am a Roadside Assistance Technician?
If you are a Roadside Assistance Technician who works for the defendant, contact Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. You may be able to join the class action.
What is a Roadside Assistance Technician?
Roadside Assistant Technicians, also known as Auto Rescue Technicians, Roadside Assistance Workers, Roadside Service Workers, Roadside Technicians, are on-call workers dispatched to assist disabled vehicles. Calls for roadside assistance are typically routed through a call center, where dispatchers receive customer calls and alert Roadside Service Technicians that they are needed.
Typical Roadside Assistance Technician responsibilities include jumping car batteries, unlocking vehicles, changing tires, and delivering fuel.
How do I know if I have been misclassified as an independent contractor or an employee?
According to the Department of Labor (DOL), “[m]isclassification” refers to a worker who is an employee under the law but is incorrectly classified as something other than an employee (usually an independent contractor). Most federal and state labor laws protect workers who meet the laws’ definitions of “employee.”
Further, according to the DOL:
[w]orkers misclassified as independent contractors may miss out on:
- minimum wage and overtime pay,
- protections from anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation laws,
- workers’ compensation if injured on the job,
- unemployment insurance,
- health and safety protections on the job, and
- employer-sponsored benefits.
What Can I Do If I Feel I Have Been Misclassified as an Independent Contractor?
If you feel you have been misclassified as an independent contractor or would like to learn more information about the pending lawsuit, please complete the form to the right or contact Michael Yarnoff, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 804, [email protected]; John Kehoe, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 801, [email protected], or send an e-mail to [email protected].
The Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is a multidisciplinary, plaintiff–side law firm dedicated to protecting investors and consumers from corporate fraud, negligence, and other wrongdoing. Driven by a strong and principled sense of social responsibility and obtaining justice for the aggrieved, Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. represents plaintiffs seeking to recover investment losses resulting from securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, corporate wrongdoing or malfeasance, those harmed by anticompetitive practices, and consumers victimized by fraud, negligence, false claims, deception, data breaches or whose rights to minimum wage and overtime compensation under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage and hour laws have been violated.