Is My New Hire an Employee or a Contractor? Key Factors for Startups to Consider
Unpaid Internships: Are They Legal?
Election results and the Affordable Care Act – What can employers do now?
After multiple rounds of rulemaking that saw more than 1,600 comments submitted by nearly 600 individuals and businesses, the Maine Department of Labor, on December 4, 2024, approved and published the final rules for Maine’s...more
Dutch law prohibits employers from paying full-time employees differently—i.e., more favorably—than part-time employees, unless the difference in pay can be objectively justified. This is not readily the case, however....more
Oregon employers that require arbitration for employment-related disputes recently received some good news from the Oregon Supreme Court. In Gist v. ZoAn Management, Inc., the Court rejected the plaintiff’s argument that his...more
The Ontario Court of Appeal recently clarified that common employer liability on an interrelated corporation requires objective evidence of an intention to create an employer/employee relationship between the employee and the...more
A bill to amend the New Jersey Millville Dallas Airmotive Plant Loss Job Notification Act, also commonly referred to as the New Jersey WARN Act (“NJ WARN Act”), which the New Jersey Senate passed on December 16, 2019, if...more
On May 30, 2017, the Ontario government issued its response to a Final Report recently released by two Special Advisors as part of their Changing Workplaces Review. This Report included 173 recommendations for amendments to...more
Two new laws require employers in Washington, D.C. (D.C.) and New York City (NYC) to offer pre-tax transit benefits, effective on January 1, 2016. Employers with employees in these cities must take action quickly to ensure...more
In the 1920s, author Gertrude Stein famously said, “A rose is a rose is a rose.” In light of Alexander v. FedEx Ground, that phrase could just as well be: an employee is an employee is an employee. Alexander is one of many...more
I’ll bet you assume that the hard-working driver who delivers your packages and letters shipped by Federal Express is a FedEx employee. After all, he or she wears a FedEx uniform, drives a FedEx truck, uses a FedEx handheld...more
Last week, the 9th Circuit held in two related cases from California and Oregon that FedEx misclassified approximately 2,600 delivery truck drivers as independent contractors, rather than as employees. The cases—Alexander v....more
Beginning January 1, 2015, Illinois state law may require Illinois employers employing one or more employees to provide "reasonable accommodations" to part-time and full-time employees, probationary employees, new employees,...more
A federal trial court in Florida recently issued a significant decision on the issue of unpaid trainees under the FLSA, finding that 25 former students of Wolford College were not employees when they participated in a...more
As winter has turned to spring, and flu season has turned to allergy season, have your employees been accruing government-mandated paid sick leave? They might be if they happen to work in New York City (NYC), Newark, or...more
A recent decision of the federal district court for the southern district of Ohio raises interesting questions under Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) that might also affect employer liability under the...more
The Jersey City Council voted 7-1 to pass a bill that will provide paid sick leave for workers in New Jersey's second largest city. Any business with 10 or more employees must offer as many as five paid sick days per year....more
Generally, most employees in the United States must be paid at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime at one and one half times the regular hourly rate for all time worked above 40 hours in a seven...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held in Mendel v. City of Gibraltar that volunteer firefighters, who receive $15 per hour whenever they voluntarily choose to respond to calls, are employees who must be counted...more
A recent Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision issued a strong admonition to employers: the misclassification of workers as independent contractors rather than employees may have serious financial and operational...more
The answer is “nothing really,” but the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals successfully searched Al Capone’s vault to unearth the comparison in its recent opinion in Lucas v. Jerusalem Cafe, LLC....more
A California Court of Appeal recently held that a volunteer reserve police officer for the Los Angeles Police Department was not entitled to maintain a disability discrimination claim under the California Fair Employment and...more
A federal District Court in New York recently ruled that production interns who worked on the set of the movie “Black Swan” are actually employees for minimum wage and overtime purposes, and certified a wage and hour class...more
In response to concerns about employee attendance and building security, some employers have chosen to implement biometric attendance systems in the workplace. These systems allow an employer to monitor employees’ work hours...more
As we wrote about previously, the legality of unpaid internships is a hot issue this summer, with courts struggling over two issues: (1) whether employers must classify entry-level “interns” as employees under the law, and...more
The tradition of hiring unpaid summer interns has a long, established history for many employers. The role of internships has expanded from an informal, summertime experience to workers looking to make a career change or get...more