Felina Robinson v. The Buffalo News, Inc.

This is a class action against defendant The Buffalo News, Inc. (“Buffalo News”

or “Defendant”) for misclassification of Plaintiff and all similarly-situated newspaper delivery

carriers (the “Class” or the “Carriers”) who worked for Defendant since January 31, 2013 and

were misclassified as independent contractors.

Although Defendant purports to classify the Carriers as independent contractors,

they are controlled and treated like employees. The Carriers work seven days a week for

Defendant, deliver newspapers to Defendant’s customers, are subject to Defendant’s standards

for delivery including Defendant’s dictated route, and are required to complete their deliveries by

specific times. The Carriers are economically dependent on Defendant and have virtually no

opportunity for profit or loss: they are paid cents for each newspaper delivered (a rate set by

Defendant), the boundaries of their routes are set by Defendant, and the newspapers are delivered

to Defendant’s customers and thus the Carriers have little opportunity to expand their purported

business. The Carriers are trained by Defendant or its agents and are terminated at-will, like

Causes of Action

1. Unlawful Deductions in Violation of New York Labor Law Section 193

2. Common Law Misclassification

3. Unjust Enrichment

4. Violation of New York Labor Law Section 195(3)