VAN NUYS : Airport Shuttle Firm Fined, Gets Probation
A Van Nuys airport shuttle company was fined nearly $5,000 this week for violating state Public Utilities Commission rules, City Atty. James K. Hahn said.
The company, Prime Time, had already been fined $80,000 by the PUC for the same violation--hiring drivers as independent contractors rather than employees, as the law requires, said Ruth Kwan, head of the city attorney’s consumer protection division. Los Angeles Municipal Court Commissioner Barry Kohen imposed this most recent fine and two-year probation.
“The drivers have to be employees . . . for insurance reasons, for liability reasons, for workers’ comp reasons,” Kwan said. Prime Time’s hiring the drivers as independent contractors was an effort to avoid paying such costs as insurance and workers’ compensation for them, Kwan said.
Prime Time--which operates in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura and San Bernardino counties--also engaged drivers who did not have charter licenses and illegally made its drivers pay for their workers’ compensation coverage, said Deputy City Atty. P. Greg Parham, who handled the case.
The company pleaded no contest to three counts of failing to comply with a PUC order. In addition to the fine of $4,950, Prime Time was placed on two years probation, Parham said.
The company also violated PUC rules by denying Los Angeles International Airport officials access to its driver records, Hahn said.
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