An appeals court Tuesday said FedEx Ground independent contractors are independent business owners -- not employees -- and are outside the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board.

The company says this decision validates the company's long-standing position that FedEx Ground contractors are small business owners.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decision was made on a FedEx Ground-filed petition for review following a September 28, 2007, NLRB decision granting the International Brotherhood of Teamsters the ability to conduct a membership election among single work area contractors in FedEx Ground's Home Delivery terminals in Boston and Wilmington, Mass. In the September 2007 decision, the NLRB claimed that the contractors were actually employees, not independent contractors.

The U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with FedEx Ground's contention that the NLRB Regional Office wrongly excluded material evidence and misapplied settled law on the most important factor that defines the statutory "independent contractor" exemption from the National Labor Relations Act.

"The court determined that the company had provided clear evidence that FedEx Ground contractors are properly classified as independent contractors," said FedEx spokesman Maury Lane. "Court decisions like this and a recent state court decision in Washington State - the Anfinson case - confirm that FedEx Ground contractors are independent business owners who choose to own and operate their own enterprises as they like."