FedEx Drivers File 200 South Carolina Overtime Suits as 10,000 Cases Loom

More than 200 FedEx drivers in South Carolina filed nearly identical lawsuits alleging unpaid overtime, part of roughly 10,000 individual cases the company must answer across federal courts. EIN Presswire reported the filings, which claim FedEx violates the Fair Labor Standards Act by not paying drivers who clock more than 40 hours a week.

South Carolina Drivers Sue Over Overtime Pay

The 38 lawsuits were filed October 8-9 in U.S. District Court in downtown Charleston, according to the report. The drivers say they routinely work more than 40 hours a week and are seeking restitution, interest, damages and legal fees to be determined, along with jury trials.

The complaints target FedEx's use of independent service providers to hire and pay delivery drivers. Attorneys for the workers argue FedEx exercises so much day-to-day control over the intermediaries that it is a joint employer responsible for overtime under federal law. The filings cite requirements that drivers wear FedEx-issued uniforms, drive trucks bearing the FedEx logo and report to a FedEx distribution terminal.

"These businesses do not — and cannot — function independently of FedEx," one of the Charleston lawsuits states.

FedEx disagreed, saying the drivers "are or were" employees of the independent contractors. "We maintain that service providers are contractually and legally obligated to comply with all wage and hour laws as it relates to their employees," FedEx said October 15 in a written statement. "We look forward to addressing these issues in court."

What FedEx Records Show

FedEx is a Memphis-based logistics company providing package, freight and supply chain services across 35 countries, according to akta.pro company records. The same records show full-year FY2026 revenue of $94.7 billion, up 7.7% year-over-year, and Q4 FY2026 revenue of $25.01 billion, up 12.6% year-over-year. FedEx guides for approximately 11% revenue growth for calendar year 2026 following the FedEx Freight spin-off.

Earlier FedEx Legal and Business Events

A Pennsylvania court ruled in May 2026 that the non-unionized drivers could not band together in a nationwide class action and had to file individually in the districts where they work, according to the report. Shannon Liss-Riordan of Lichten & Liss-Riordan, the lead law firm for the drivers, said the overtime issue dates to the late 1990s, when FedEx reclassified drivers from employees to independent contractors, and the company switched to the outsourcing model about a decade ago.

On October 12, 2026, the 5th Circuit affirmed summary judgment in Sanders v. Richardson, holding that a FedEx worker's six harassment reports were not protected under Title VII, Yahoo reported. On October 15, 2026, a FedEx driver was sentenced to up to 12 years in state prison for a crash that killed a father and two children on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Yahoo reported.

Trial Dates Sought

Liss-Riordan said the next goal is to get a trial date. "We've been trying for years to get these cases to trial," she said. FedEx will first need to file some 10,000 legal responses.