Western Truck Manpower, Inc. v. United States Department of Labor

ORDER

The memorandum disposition filed September 27, 1993, is redesignated as an authored opinion by Judge Brunetti.

OPINION

This case involves joint employers: Western Truck Manpower (‘Western”) and Ryer-son Steel (“Ryerson”). Western functioned as a leasing agent for truck drivers, and Ryerson leased driver services from Western, Ryerson determined and assigned routes for the drivers, maintained their time cards and reports, scheduled vacations and other time off, and approved overtime. Western prepared the drivers’ payroll, issued paychecks, withheld state and Federal taxes, made social security payments, maintained worker’s compensation coverage, and kept current the drivers’ Department of Transportation medical records. In addition, Western conducted all labor relations with the drivers, including negotiation of labor agreements and participation in grievance proceedings. Based on these facts, the Secretary of Labor found that Western and Ryerson constituted joint employers. See Palmer v. Western Truck Manpower, No. 85-STA-16, Sec.Remand Dec., Jan. 16, 1987, slip op. at 2-5.

Beginning in March 1976, Western leased the services of Hubert Palmer to Ryerson. On February 14,…