Metro Mobility Drivers’ Suit Featured in Media

On October 26th, three current Metro Mobility Drivers served their employer, First Transit, Inc. with a complaint alleging the company denied them fair payment for time work.  According to the complaint, filed by Shawn Wanta, First Transit drivers spend time prior to each day’s work in mandatory but uncompensated activities, including receiving a manifest and bus key, finding their assigned bus in the lot, turning on the bus and logging into the onboard computer. Drivers then engage in a pre-trip inspection, which include several dozen checks in the interior and exterior of the bus.

First Transit compensates drivers for 10 minutes for these vital safety checks, which actually take at least twice as long to complete. At the end of their workdays, drivers’ are similarly under-paid for time worked. They are required to drive to the fuel station, inspect their vehicles, complete post-trip reports, count and reconcile fares, report any incidents and fill out their manifests. They are paid based on the time they drive into the lot, plus ten minutes for a post trip vehicle inspection or a more complicated calculation based on the last passenger drop-off. Wanta says the three men will seek class-action status and estimates there could be more than 500 people in the potential class.

Stories about the lawsuit can be found on the Star Tribune and Kare11 websites.