Garcia

Background Petitioners are truck drivers (sometimes called owner-operators) who were engaged by Southern Counties Express, Inc. (Southern Counties) to haul shipping containers from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to facilities throughout Southern California. When engaged by Southern Counties, and at 90-day intervals thereafter, each of the drivers signed an “Independent Contractor” agreement (consisting of 17 pages, with appendices); at less-frequent intervals they signed “Vehicle Lease” agreements (consisting of 12 pages). The independent contractor agreements provided that the contracting driver would use the specified truck to provide hauling services at Southern Counties’ direction; the Vehicle Lease agreements provided that the contracting drivers would lease a specified truck from Southern Counties for that purpose. And (as required by federal regulations governing Southern Counties as an authorized interstate carrier), that Southern Counties will have “exclusive possession, use and control of the Equipment and shall assume complete responsibility for the operation thereof to the extent required by such regulation . . . .” (See 49 C.F.R. §§ 376.11, 376.12(c)(1).)…