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I've been an Express employee for a very long time, and have seen FedEx sued successfully many times. Here's a tutorial of how it works, so try to keep up, OK? I can't speak to Ground's legal issues, so I'll let others take that opco on.
1. Dano is right...FedEx fears lawsuits, just like all major corporations with deep pockets. Another reason they fear them is that FedEx is an unethical employer that operates at the edges of the law. In other words, they aggressively terminate and/or harass employees in their endless efforts to shave costs and keep FedEx non-union. FedEx gets sued frequently because they
deserve to be sued.
2. I personally know many ex-employees who received large settlements from FedEx for a variety of reasons, ranging from unlawful termination to sexual harassment. Although settlements are usually confidential, some of these were in the high 6 figures.
3. Notice the word
settlement. Approximately 90% of all legal cases are settled out of court, so you're only going to see the most high profile suits and payouts in the media. FedEx doesn't want their dirty laundry aired.
4. If you do sue FedEx, it will probably be on a contingency basis, because the Express MO is to try and extend a case as far as possible in order to starve you out. Very few employees can afford to pay for expensive attorneys, so FedEx and it's huge legal team have an enormous advantage. If an attorney won't take your case on a contingency basis, you are screwed. Fred knows this, and attempts to intimidate employees into thinking they'll never win against FedEx Legal. Usually, FedEx will hire high-priced local talent supplemented by Legal, so your attorney needs to be good and your case a strong one. Besides stalling, they will try and change venues or move the case to Federal Court because they operate nation-wide and might find a more sympathetic judge in another forum. It's a huge game, and they are quite good at it.
Nothing is more satisfying than see a former and/or current employee get a large settlement from Fred, and there are plenty of people who have prevailed against Mr. Smith's machine. FedEx screws people around like no other company out there, and they screw-up all the time by breaking the law.
Someday, you'll figure it out. Fred S is not a good guy, and he thinks he and his various companies are above the law. After all, so far he's gotten away with drunk driving, vehicular homicide, insider trading, embezzlement, and a host of other illegalities because he's Fast Freddy with the big $$ and big-time connections.
Hopefully there are some class-actions in the pipeline for age discrimination etc.
Smith is an arrogant bastard with zero conscience and little regard for the law...except when he has to write a big check to someone other than a politician.
Make the MF write that check and watch his palms sweat and his hands shake because he's losing a few pennies.