A suit by Maine bakery drivers seeking to be classified as employees rather than independent contractors can proceed as a class-action lawsuit, a federal judge has ruled.
The lawsuit, which seeks $5 million, is pending in federal court in Bangor and alleges that the drivers routinely work up to 55 hours a week, seven days a week and, as independent contractors, they don’t get employee benefits, such as overtime pay. The suit says at least 102 drivers are believed to be affected and names as defendants Lepage Bakeries, an Auburn subsidiary of Georgia-based Flower Foods, and CK Sales of Auburn, a distributor.
In 2013, the suit said, CK Sales converted its employees to independent contractors and said it was operating a “franchised distributorship.”
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