Opinion ID: 2678483
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Affinity’s Regulation of Its Drivers

Text: Drivers regularly worked about five to seven days per week. An Affinity employee would call the drivers each day RUIZ V. AFFINITY LOGISTICS 7 to tell them whether or not they were working the following day. Drivers had a fairly regular rate of pay since they worked five to seven shifts per week, and every route had approximately eight deliveries. Drivers had to request time off three to four weeks in advance, and Affinity had discretion to deny those requests. Affinity denied requests for time off when it decided the delivery schedule was too busy. Affinity encouraged, if not required, drivers to lease trucks from Affinity. All but one driver in the San Diego area leased their trucks from Affinity. Affinity automatically deducted $350 per week from a driver’s paycheck to pay for the leased truck. Drivers were required to paint their trucks white, and could not put signs on their trucks. The trucks had a Sears logo and Affinity’s name and motor carrier number on the door. Most drivers drove the same truck every day. Affinity handled upkeep of trucks and arranged for loaner trucks when trucks broke down, deducting these costs from drivers’ pay. Affinity required drivers to stock their trucks with certain supplies, as outlined in the Procedures Manual. These supplies included appliance and furniture totes, plastic mattress return bags, protective blankets, pads, tie-down straps, and tools including a level, power drill, and drill bits. Affinity required that drivers use a specific type of mobile telephone. Affinity supplied the phones and deducted monthly costs for the phones from drivers’ paychecks. Affinity also required each driver to have a “helper” or secondary driver on the truck with them. Helpers had to submit to a background check and be approved by Affinity. While working for Affinity, at 6:00 or 6:30 a.m. everyday, drivers were required to report to the San Diego 8 RUIZ V. AFFINITY LOGISTICS Market Delivery Operation (“MDO”) warehouse where Affinity’s offices were located. When drivers arrived at the MDO, they had to report to one of the supervisors and pick up their route manifests, which told them how many deliveries they had that day and where the deliveries were. Drivers then checked to make sure they had all the furniture and appliances to be delivered. Next, as outlined in the Procedures Manual, Affinity required drivers and helpers to attend a fifteen to thirty minute “stand-up” meeting at 7:15 a.m. The stand-up meeting was led by an Affinity supervisor. The Affinity supervisor would review the drivers’ customer satisfaction survey scores from previous deliveries, discuss problems encountered in recent deliveries, and discuss any other issues Affinity thought would be “beneficial to help [drivers] out in the field.” Drivers were required to wear uniforms and abide by certain grooming requirements, as set forth in the “Delivery Team Apparel and Appearance” section of the Procedures Manual. The uniform consisted of an “industrial light blue [shirt] with blue stripe, American flag on sleeve, emblem with ‘Sears-Authorized Delivery’”; black pants; a belt without a metal buckle; and “industrial, black leather shoes” ordered from a particular company, Lehigh Safety Shoes. Drivers had to keep their shoes “neat and clean.” Affinity provided the uniforms, but charged drivers for them by deducting the costs from drivers’ paychecks. Affinity also required that tattoos and piercings be covered or removed and that facial hair be “neatly groomed and properly shaved surrounding the beard.” Affinity provided shaving kits to drivers with facial hair that did not meet Affinity’s grooming requirements. RUIZ V. AFFINITY LOGISTICS 9 After each morning stand-up meeting, Affinity required that Hansen or Jimmy Starnes, another Affinity supervisor, check the drivers’ trucks to ensure that drivers had the required tools, that deliveries were loaded with the necessary padding and properly secured, and that no appliances were left on the dock. The supervisors also checked that the drivers were in their required uniform and properly groomed. Drivers made deliveries according to the route manifests Affinity provided to them daily. Drivers could not control the order of deliveries; they were instructed in the Procedures Manual to maintain “100 percent adherence” to the manifests created by Affinity. The assignment of routes was based on scores drivers received from Sears’s customer surveys known as the Quality Measurement/Incentive Program. Drivers with higher scores selected their routes first, while drivers with lower scores were given the least desirable routes. Affinity required drivers to call an automated Sears customer service number after each delivery; this requirement is listed in the Procedures Manual as “a very important requirement.” During these calls, drivers would report the stop number that was just completed, the arrival time, and departure time. Throughout the day, drivers also had to contact an Affinity supervisor after every two or three deliveries. When a driver did not call, Affinity would call the driver to find out the driver’s location. If a driver was running late, Affinity would call Sears to inform them that Affinity had “a driver running late.” Affinity supervisors also monitored the progress of each driver throughout the day on a “route monitoring screen,” and would contact a driver if they noticed he or she was running late or off-course. 10 RUIZ V. AFFINITY LOGISTICS Affinity also engaged in “follow-alongs,” whereby an Affinity supervisor followed a driver for a few stops to ensure that the driver was wearing the uniform and using proper delivery techniques. Sometimes the Affinity supervisor would talk to a customer after a delivery to evaluate the driver’s performance. Occasionally, for heavier loads, the Affinity supervisor would also assist the driver in a delivery. After drivers completed their daily delivery routes, they returned to the warehouse to park their trucks. At the end of the day, drivers were required to fill out a form (also known as a “cover sheet”), and return the route manifest to Affinity. Drivers left the trucks and the keys for the trucks at the MDO warehouse. Affinity admitted that it “strongly discouraged” drivers from taking the trucks home or otherwise removing trucks from the warehouse lot overnight or on weekends. Moreover, Affinity sometimes used the drivers’ trucks for other jobs. Drivers were told to leave their keys at the MDO “just in case they need that truck to run another load with somebody else.” Affinity did not compensate drivers for the use of their trucks for these other deliveries.