Josef F. Buenker of The Buenker Law Firm and I represent pharmacy delivery drivers who say Carvajal Pharmacy classified them as independent contractors and did not pay them overtime. I serve as attorney-in-charge. The case is pending in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division, as Thomas v. Carvajal Pharmacy LTC LLC, No. 5:26-cv-00395-JKP-ESC.
On August 4, 2026, the court denied Carvajal Pharmacy's motion to dismiss the case and compel arbitration. The drivers' claims stay in federal court.
Background
The drivers delivered prescription medications and other pharmacy products to homes, care facilities, and airports. Carvajal Pharmacy treated them as independent contractors rather than employees. The drivers say they regularly worked more than 40 hours a week and received no overtime pay for those hours.
The drivers signed their contracts with Integrity Couriers, a separate courier company, and not with Carvajal Pharmacy. After we filed suit, Carvajal Pharmacy asked the court to enforce the arbitration clause inside those Integrity Couriers contracts and move the case out of federal court and into private arbitration.
Carvajal Pharmacy never signed those contracts. The company argued that a Texas doctrine called intertwined claims estoppel let it enforce an arbitration agreement it was not a party to.
The court's August 4, 2026 ruling
United States Magistrate Judge Elizabeth S. Chestney denied the motion. You can read the order here: Order denying motion to compel arbitration (PDF).
The court gave two separate reasons, and either one on its own defeated the motion.
First, the court found no close relationship between Carvajal Pharmacy and Integrity Couriers. The court found that Integrity Couriers keeps its own separate corporate identity, that the two companies answer to no common control and hold no corporate affiliation, and that they deal with each other as independent participants in a business transaction. Texas law requires more than a business relationship before a company can enforce a contract it never signed.
Second, the court found that the drivers' overtime claims do not depend on the Integrity Couriers contracts at all. The drivers could bring the same claims if those contracts had never existed, because federal wage law places the overtime obligation on the employer directly rather than through any contract.
The court also ordered Carvajal Pharmacy to file its answer within 14 days, after which the court will set the case for an initial pretrial conference.
The magistrate judge entered that order as a non-dispositive order on referral, so the district judge can still review it.
Allegations
The drivers allege that Carvajal Pharmacy misclassified them as independent contractors, that it controlled their routes, their pay rates, and their schedules in the way an employer controls employees, and that it failed to pay overtime for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek. We are pursuing back overtime wages, an equal additional amount as liquidated damages, and attorney's fees.
If you drove for Carvajal Pharmacy
We filed this case as a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which means other drivers who were paid the same way can join it.
Many drivers assume they have no case because they signed a contract with a courier or staffing company that contained an arbitration clause and called them independent contractors. The August 4 order shows why that assumption can be wrong. A company that never signed your contract usually cannot use that contract's arbitration clause against you, and calling a worker an independent contractor does not decide whether federal law treats that worker as an employee.
You may have a claim if you delivered for Carvajal Pharmacy, if you were paid per stop or on a 1099 rather than as an hourly employee, and if you worked more than 40 hours in a week without overtime pay.
The Fair Labor Standards Act lets you reach back two years from the day you file, or three years if the violation was willful. That window moves forward with the calendar. Every day you wait, another day of unpaid overtime falls off the far end of what you can recover, and you cannot get it back.
Contact
If you drove for Carvajal Pharmacy or for Integrity Couriers and you believe you were denied overtime, call me at (512) 799-2048 or use the contact form on this site. Consultations are confidential and there is no charge for the initial consultation.
Douglas B. Welmaker Welmaker Law, PLLC 505 E. Magrill St., Longview, Texas 75601