A class-action lawsuit has been filed against the ride-hailing company SuperEgo, alleging that the company defrauded drivers by depriving them of their wages through deceptive business practices and breach of contract.
The class-action lawsuit was first filed in 2022 and is currently in the discovery phase, with legal proceedings still ongoing. The lawsuit has made headlines in major media outlets this week following the airing of a 60 Minutes report investigating “chameleon” transportation companies and other fraudulent practices in the trucking industry.
According to Fox32, there are only 12 named plaintiffs in the lawsuit, but another 800 have joined. Any driver who worked for SuperEgo or its affiliated carriers between August 5, 2012, and the present, and who was paid a percentage of the freight, may join the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that SuperEgo “conspired to carry out a widespread and long-standing scheme designed to defraud the semi-truck drivers it hired, in order to deprive them of a portion of their compensation.”
“Upon further investigation, it turned out that many of the drivers had, in fact, received rate confirmation sheets—two-page documents from freight brokers listing the price of the cargo they were transporting for SuperEgo. They stated that they had obtained authentic rate confirmation sheets from the freight forwarders showing one price, and that SuperEgo sent them a secretly altered rate confirmation sheet reflecting a lower price,” said Chris Wilmes, a partner at Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym, LTD.
“The drivers allege that they were told they would receive 88% of the freight rate, minus a certain payment for truck rental and some insurance costs, and that they would have to reimburse SuperEgo for the cost of fuel,” explained Wilmes. “The drivers allege that they were paid less than 88%. They also allege that Super Ego charged them more than their contract allowed for the cost of fuel.”
Some drivers claim that these fraudulent practices sometimes resulted in negative balances on their pay stubs.
“They spend all day crisscrossing the country, hauling and delivering cargo. Many of them have been doing this for a long time and stay on the road for weeks on end,” said Wilmes. “Some drivers allege that Super Ego allowed them to reset their clocks so they could drive beyond the Department of Transportation (DOT) limits, and I believe there are some drivers who felt pressured to do so simply to avoid ending up with a negative paycheck.”
The legal proceedings are still ongoing. The program “60 Minutes” reports that “Super Ego Holdings denies any wrongdoing. Super Ego Holdings’ attorneys assert that it is a leasing company, not a transportation company, and that it is not responsible for the actions of its affiliated carriers and drivers.”
