Independent Contractors

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By: Noah Finkel, Camille Olson, Scott Mallery, Andrew McKinley and Kevin Young

Seyfarth Synopsis:  Today the U.S. Department of Labor issued its draft new interpretive regulation (or NPRM) attempting to define employee versus independent contractor status under the Fair Labor Standards Act.  The NPRM jettisons an earlier attempt under the prior Administration to modernize and simplify how…

Continue Reading Meet the New Interpretation, (Pretty Much the) Same as the Old Interpretation: the DOL Proposes Its Own Independent Contractor Definition for the FLSA

By: Daniel I. Small, Robert T. Szyba, Howard M. Wexler, and Glenn J. Smith

Seyfarth Synopsis: New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed a legislative package into law on July 8, 2021 that increases enforcement mechanisms for state agencies to impose a variety of penalties against employers who misclassify workers as independent contractors and creates a new …
Continue Reading NJ Continues Its Aggressive Crackdown on Independent Contractor Misclassification

By: Noah Finkel

Seyfarth Synopsis:  After delaying the effective date of a finalized Trump-era interpretive regulation that would have brought much needed clarity to the definition of employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the DOL yesterday formally repealed that guidance. The result is that companies, workers, and courts will continue to struggle in classifying which workers are employees …
Continue Reading Independent Contractor Classification Clarity, We Hardly Knew Ye

By: Ryan McCoy and Andrew Paley

Seyfarth Synopsis: Back in January 2020, a federal district court enjoined the State of California from enforcing AB 5 against interstate motor carriers. Now, in a split 2-1 decision, a Ninth Circuit panel has reversed the district court, on the rationale that AB 5 is just another generally applicable labor law that affects all

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Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Applies AB 5 Against Interstate Motor Carriers

Recorded by Scott Mallery and Eric Lloyd

Often, what happens in California is a good bellwether for what could happen in the policy space on a federal level. And we believe worker classification is no different.

In this episode of Seyfarth’s Policy Matters Podcast, Counsel Scott Mallery and Partner Eric Lloyd provide an overview of where the law on misclassification…
Continue Reading Policy Matters Podcast – Episode 6: How California’s Controversial Worker Classification Test Could Affect Federal Policy

By: Eric M. Lloyd & Pamela L. Vartabedian

Seyfarth Synopsis: In a unanimous decision, the California Supreme Court held that the worker friendly “ABC” test set forth by the Court in its 2018 landmark ruling, Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court, applies retroactively. The ABC test thus applies to all pending cases governed by the California Wage Orders in …
Continue Reading California Supreme Court Rules That Dynamex ABC Test Applies Retroactively

By: Camille A. Olson, Richard B. Lapp, Louisa J. Johnson, and Andrew M. McKinley

With the growth of the gig economy, the increased desire of some workers to control their own work hours to ensure a work-life balance, and the evolution of the modern workplace to one in which workers rarely retain one full-time job throughout their…
Continue Reading US DOL Issues Final Rule on Independent Contractor Status Under the FLSA

By: Noah A. Finkel, Camille A. Olson, Louisa J. Johnson, and John R. Skelton

For decades, companies have wrestled with whether certain workers must be treated as employees subject to various employment laws and company rules or whether they are appropriately classified as independent contractors with different terms of engagement, work, and pay and tax consequences. Amid…
Continue Reading DOL Proposes Its First-Ever Interpretation on Independent Contractor vs. Employee

By Alex Passantino

‘Twas the week before Christmas, in a year for the ages.

So here’s our latest recap of hours and wages.

The letters and laws. The regulations and cases.

A year’s worth of matters that impacted workplaces.

We begin up at One First, where SCOTUS debated

A trio of cases…

Continue Reading Frosty, the Gig Worker Performing Work Outside the Usual Course of the Hiring Entity’s Business: 2019 Year in Review

Co-authored by Christopher Truxler and Coby Turner

Seyfarth Synopsis: Earlier this month, a California federal court dismissed the misclassification claims of 7-Eleven franchisees on the pleadings, finding they did not and could not plead facts sufficient to show that they were employees of their franchisor.

All is well with one of America’s most beloved convenience stores. In October 2017, four…
Continue Reading Oh Thank Heaven, Franchisees Not Employees of 7-Eleven!