Opinion ID: 4159704
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Schedule Flexibility

Text: The ability to choose how much to work also weighs in favor of independent contractor status. See Herman, 161 F.3d at 304; Arena v. Plandome Taxi, Inc., No. 12 CV 1078(DRH)(WDW), 2014 WL 1427907, at  (S.D.N.Y. Apr. reject deliveries without retaliation[, and] . . . work for other courier delivery systems,” since their franchise agreement did not contain a non‐compete clause. Id. at 303. When employees are compensated “on a piecework basis,” Dole, 875 F.2d at 809, moreover, the FLSA economic reality inquiry asks how much revenue flows to the worker. Compare, e.g., Delux Transp. Servs., Inc., 3 F. Supp. 3d at 11 (“There is also no dispute that [the driver, deemed an independent contractor,] received all revenues generated by the fares [the driver] picked up.”), with Dole, 875 F.2d at 809 (cake decorators, classified as employees, were paid only 20% of the price of each cake) and Mr. W Fireworks, 814 F.2d at 1046 (operators of firework stands, also classified as employees, made only a “15% commission on fireworks sold”). And as Eduard Slinin, CTG’s president, testified here, a “majority of the revenue [went] . . . to the driver” for CTG rides. J.A. 616–17. CTG generally applied a small, flat processing fee for each voucher, and also took a percentage fee on the entire voucher amount upon Defendant Franchisor’s payment of vouchers to franchisees (in the range of 15–33% of the voucher amount). 32 14, 2014) (noting fact that transportation company “dictated the hours the drivers worked” supported employee status); Arena v. Delux Transp. Servs., Inc., 3 F. Supp. 3d 1, 10 (E.D.N.Y. 2014) (noting fact “that Defendants had little control over when Plaintiff drove, how much he dr[o]ve, or how frequently” “very persuasive[ly]” supported independent contractor status.); cf. Berger Transfer & Storage, 85 F.3d at 1378 (affirming finding of independent contractor status based in part on “considerable autonomy regarding when and how long they would work” under common law agency test). Here, Plaintiffs’ schedules were not merely “relatively flexible,” Doty v. Elias, 733 F.2d 720, 723 (10th Cir. 1984) (emphasis added), but rather were entirely of their making. After purchasing or leasing a franchise and securing a suitable vehicle, Plaintiffs set their own schedules, selecting when, where, and how often to work (if at all). Defendants provided no incentive structure for Plaintiffs to drive at certain times, on particular days, or in specific locations, leaving the decision to work “to the whims [and] choices” of its drivers. Dole, 875 F.2d at 806. Likewise, Defendants required no notice on the part of drivers as to when they intended to work, nor did they make any effort to coordinate drivers’ schedules. 33 Here, as always with the “economic reality” inquiry, it is not merely that Plaintiffs nominally could set their own schedules, but also that they actually did so. Id. at 808. Some Plaintiffs took vacations for weeks at a time without ever notifying Defendants. Anjum Ali, for example, took five weeks off to travel abroad, and regularly took off long weekends. Mazhar Saleem took a three‐to‐ four month vacation in 2010 and vacationed for over two months in 2011. Jose Cabrera “t[ook] the entire year of 2011 off” from driving for Defendants, and resumed doing so in 2012. J.A. 3393 ¶ 148. On the days when Plaintiffs did work, their hours varied — again, based on their own preferences, and without Defendants making any attempt to coordinate schedules or set lower or upper limits on working hours. Cf. Dole, 875 F.2d at 806 (holding that workers were employees because they did not “act[] autonomously, or with any degree of independence which would set them apart from what one would consider normal employee status”). Jagjit Singh sometimes worked as many as fifteen to sixteen hours a day, while Anjum Ali would typically log in from 4:00 p.m. until approximately midnight. Others drove on a far more sporadic basis. 34 Plaintiffs also exercised considerable discretion in choosing when and where to drive. Superior Care, 840 F.2d at 1059. Marlene Pinedo, for instance, explained that she drove “[f]rom Sunday to Friday . . . [b]ecause those are the days when there is the most work.” J.A. 416. Pinedo made a similar calculation when determining the times of day during which she would drive, performing two separate shifts, 4:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., because “they used to give good jobs at those times.” J.A. 417. Anjum Ali, on the other hand, preferred to drive in the evenings in part because, with friends driving at the same time, he could count on them if he needed help. Similarly — and predictably — drivers often selected a geographic zone based on the available jobs there, and record testimony indicates that certain zones in Manhattan were more active than others.34 Additionally, the record demonstrates that, as a matter of economic reality, Plaintiffs accepted and rejected (despite the penalty of being placed at the end of the queue) varying numbers of job offers, a fact indicative of the discretion and independence associated with independent contractor status. Cf. Berger Transfer & Storage, 85 F.3d at 1378 (affirming district court finding that it was indicative of 34 For example, Zone 4, in midtown Manhattan, appears to have been particularly popular due to the volume of business there. 35 independent contractor status that long‐distance truckers could and did refuse assignments without penalty); Herman, 161 F.3d at 303 (noting that couriers could reject job offers “without retaliation” in making the same determination). For example, in March 2011, Bhavesh Shah accepted 83 jobs, Jamshed Choudhry accepted 148, and Jose Solorzano accepted fifteen. Likewise, from May 2010 to May 2013, Ranjit Bhullar rejected 949 job offers, while Wilman Martinez rejected none.35 Plaintiffs’ flexible work schedules and considerable control over when, where, and in what circumstances to accept a CTG fare not surprisingly resulted in wide disparities in gross earnings for rides provided through Defendants.36 For example, while Jagjit Singh grossed more than $170,000 in 2009 and 2011, J.A. 3433, Anjum Ali earned between $38,928 and $42,445 a year from 2010 through 2012, J.A. 3431. These differences only underscore the economic reality, namely that the “work force [was] composed of individuals who came and went as they Likewise, after accepting and receiving information concerning a job, some 35 Plaintiffs “frequently bail[ed] out” of jobs despite the three hour lockout penalty, while others “rarely” did so. J.A. 3395 ¶¶ 153–54. 36 The franchise agreements made no guarantees about how much work Plaintiffs could expect. 36 alone pleased,” Dole, 875 F.2d at 807, an undisputed fact that is all the more remarkable given the volume‐driven nature of the business. In the language of the Silk factors, these undisputed facts demonstrate that Defendants did not “exercise control,” and that Plaintiffs demonstrated “initiative.” Superior Care, 840 F.2d at 1060. They also show that, whatever “the permanence or duration” of Plaintiffs’ affiliation with Defendants, id. at 1059, both its length and the “regularity” of work was entirely of Plaintiffs’ choosing, cf. Keller, 781 F.3d at 807 (“We may look at the length and regularity of the working relationship between the parties [in assessing the nature of their relationship].”). These circumstances are readily distinguishable from those in which courts have identified an employer‐employee relation. In Superior Care, for instance, the employer “limited working hours to 40 per week where nurses claimed they were owed overtime,” 840 F.2d at 1060, and in Reich v. Circle C. Investments, Inc., the employer “exercise[d] a great deal of control over the [plaintiffs],” who were “required to comply with weekly work schedules,” 998 F.2d 324, 327 (5th Cir. 1993). In Dole v. Snell, the plaintiff cake‐decorators’ schedules were “totally controlled” by their employer: they were expected to arrive at the premises at a 37 particular hour, prevented from leaving until they had decorated all the cakes to their bosses’ satisfaction, and required to seek their employer’s approval for vacation. 875 F.2d at 806. In short, “[t]he demands of the business controlled the [workers’ schedule],” id., which was indisputably not the case for Plaintiffs here. Instead, this case resembles those in which we and other Circuits have recognized independent contractor status. In Kirsch v. Fleet Street, for example, we upheld a jury finding that the plaintiff was an independent contractor when, inter alia, he “was not required to spend time in the company’s offices [and] was free to set his own schedule and take vacations when he wished.” 148 F.3d at 171. Likewise, in Herman v. Express Sixty‐Minutes Delivery Service, Inc., the Fifth Circuit concluded that a courier service “had minimal control over its drivers” such that they were independent contractors because, inter alia, “[t]he drivers set their own hours and days of work.” 161 F.3d at 303. Similarly here, Plaintiffs’ freedom in choosing when, where, and with what regularity to drive CTG clients shows the extent of their economic independence — that they operated their “business organization[s]” on their own terms, and as they saw fit. Rutherford, 331 U.S. at 730.    38 In sum, Plaintiff black‐car drivers exercised their business acumen in choosing the manner and extent of their affiliation with CTG; were able to work for rival black‐car services, cultivate their own clients, and pick up street hails; made substantial investments in their businesses; and determined when, where, and how regularly to work. They owned or operated enterprises which were flexible and adaptable to market conditions. In short, based on the record here, “[t]hese driver‐owners [were] small businessmen.” Silk, 331 U.S. at 719.