The Burr Broadcast: New Independent Contractor Rule
DE Under 3: US DOL's WHD Published Its “Employee or Independent Contractor” Classification Final Rule
#WorkforceWednesday: Employee Privacy and COVID-19, CMS Vaccine Mandate on Hold, Independent Contractor Classification - Employment Law This Week®
#WorkforceWednesday: New AB5 Exemptions, EEOC COVID-19 Updates, Joint-Employer Rule Partially Struck Down - Employment Law This Week®
Employment Law This Week®: FAA Arguably Preempts California Law, New CA Employment Laws for 2020, CA Consumer Privacy Act Amended
Employment Law This Week®: DOL’s Final Overtime Rule, CA Codifies “ABC Test,” Pay Data Collection Beyond 2018, NLRB’s Busy Summer
Legal Minute: Contractor Misclassification
It was a normal, busy day at Young’s Nail Spa in Temecula, California, when the nail salon was abruptly hit with a $1.2 million fine by the California Labor Commissioner after an investigation found that 36 workers were...more
New Jersey’s highest court has held that an agreement between a real estate brokerage and a real estate salesperson identifying the salesperson as an independent contractor excludes the salesperson from the New Jersey Wage...more
On January 10, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) published its final rule that revises its guidance regarding the standard for assessing whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor under the Fair Labor...more
Ever since the New Jersey Supreme Court issued its 2015 decision in the Sleepy’s case, establishing an ABC test for wage and hour lawsuits, class action lawyers have targeted companies operating in that state for IC...more
The Ninth Circuit recently reviewed a district court’s handling of a class action involving claims of employment misclassification. Bowerman v. Field Asset Services, Inc. is instructive for at least two reasons: It provides...more
For businesses using independent contractor vendors, misclassification claims are usually well-suited for class certification. A plaintiff’s path toward certifying a class can be relatively smooth when all vendors of a...more
In 2017, four former franchisees brought a class action in California, claiming 7-Eleven owed them unreimbursed expenses. The ex-franchisees claimed they were employees, not independent contractors of 7-Eleven. The court...more
On Monday, the Ninth Circuit vacated a judgment for Grubhub, Inc. and against a former food delivery driver, Raef Lawson, who claimed that he was misclassified as an independent contractor when he performed food delivery...more
Employee misclassification continues to be the largest source of class action litigation in the logistics industry. California Trucking Association v. Bonta May Head to the Supreme Court - Independent contract...more
The first three cases reported below regarding legal developments in August 2021 have four common denominators: the defendants are all large gig economy companies; plaintiffs’ class action counsel is the same; the lawsuits...more
April 2021 was a meaningful month for two industries that are hardly strangers to lawsuits involving the status of workers as independent contractors. A federal district court in the District of Columbia issued an extremely...more
In a rare victory for employers, a California Court of Appeal in Wilson v. The La Jolla Group, 2021 WL 940283 (3/12/2021) affirmed the trial court’s denial of class certification of independent contractors’ wage and hour...more
The Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2021 (also known as the “PRO Act”) is back with its laundry list of organized labor’s most-wanted government handouts. After decades of declining membership, unions see the PRO Act...more
On Wednesday, February 10, California 7-Eleven franchise owners asked U.S. District Court Judge Dale Fischer to allow the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to rule on the district court’s previous denial of the franchisees’...more
The vast majority of class action litigation in the logistics industry over the past quarter, and indeed the last few years, has been focused on the issue of worker misclassification. In particular, as state legislatures...more
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to alter work lives in profound ways, employers are confronted with additional liability risks. The pandemic has created a wave of litigation that is unlikely to ebb until well after the...more
Last month presented a clash between the enactment of a new version of the most restrictive state law test in the nation for independent contractor status and the issuance of a proposed federal regulation that would create...more
We are often asked, what industries are impacted by independent contractor misclassification? While IC misclassification claims are most prevalent in the construction, transportation, and gig economy businesses, there are...more
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California recently ruled in an employment class action regarding misclassification of trucking industry owner-operators as independent contractors. The ruling is a win for...more
Last year, the California Supreme Court decided Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles, a landmark decision that dramatically increased the risk of misclassifying individuals as independent...more
In Vazquez v. Jan-Pro Franchising Int’l, Inc., the Ninth Circuit revived a decade old wage and hour class action and simultaneously dealt a blow to many employers utilizing independent contractors by holding that California...more
GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING - According to an article on Law360, American freight shipping company, YRC Worldwide (YRC), was sued in a securities class action lawsuit filed in New York federal court that claims investors paid...more
It’s the week before Christmas, and in our practice group meeting, We look back and consider the year that’s completing. The wage-hour nuggets that earn all our favor, Wond’ring “Is this the last time I’ll be rhyming ‘class...more
This month’s key employment law cases address the test for independent contractor status, the legality of an incentive compensation system, and personal liability for wage and hour violations....more
On October 29, 2018 a N.J. Appellate Division panel reversed a dismissal of class action overtime pay claims brought against a freight-forwarding company that convinced the lower court that the company’s drivers and...more