The Labor Department said it is seeking people who have been employed by a national auto parts distributor and its delivery company because they could be owed a share of more than $5.6 million in back wages and damages recovered on behalf of more than 1,300 drivers, according to a news release.

Workers who may qualify for back wages were classified as independent contractors for Parts Authority and Diligent Delivery Systems in Arizona between April 2012 and March 2020.

“Workers are strongly encouraged to act quickly,” the department said in the release.

In November 2022, investigators obtained a consent judgment in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona that requires Parts Authority Arizona LLC and Arizona Logistics Inc. — operating as Diligent Delivery Systems — to pay the drivers who the employer misclassified as independent contractors, according to the department.

An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division determined the misclassification caused the employer to incur violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act for the following:

• Failing to meet minimum wage requirements.
• Paying straight-time rates for all hours worked.
• Not paying the time and one-half overtime rate for hours over 40 in a workweek.
• Failing to keep required timekeeping records.

“We want to make sure that Parts Authority Arizona and Arizona Logistics workers receive all the wages and damages owed to them,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Eric Murray in Phoenix. “Workers may be difficult to locate when they change addresses or phone numbers, and they may not be aware they are owed back pay. The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and its Office of the Solicitor is working diligently to ensure the more than 1,300 underpaid employees of Parts Authority and Arizona Logistics get their shares of the $5.6 million that the agency recovered for them.”

Investigators also found the company required workers to use their personal vehicles for deliveries and did not pay them for doing so, which is another FLSA violation, the department said.

Parts Authority is based in Lake Success, New York, and has more than 200 U.S. locations. Diligent Delivery Systems is headquartered in Houston and has 46 U.S. locations.

Anyone who thinks they may qualify for back pay can call 877-465-4898 from Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. CT.