Co-authored by Robert S. Whitman and Adam J. Smiley
As this blog revels in the newest installment of the Star Wars saga, we remind you of our previous reports (here and here) regarding an equally enthralling (to your humble bloggers, anyway) legal showdown: the legal issues swirling around the “on-demand” workforce. Lawsuits by drivers for on-demand ride services
Continue Reading A long time ago, in an on-demand world far, far away …
Co-authored by Richard Alfred and Patrick Bannon
The National Labor Relations Board’s decision in Browning-Ferris Industries of California, Inc., announced last week, dramatically expands joint employer liability under the National Labor Relations Act. A business can be found to be a joint employer of individuals, the Board concluded, even if the business has only unexercised potential power to control
Continue Reading What the Browning-Ferris Decision May Forecast for Wage and Hour Law
Co-authored by Robert S. Whitman and Adam J. Smiley
Last week, this blog reported on the guidance from the Department of Labor (DOL) regarding the classification of independent contractors under the FLSA. The 15-page Administrator’s Interpretation (AI) seeks to restrict the use of independent contractors by reading the FLSA’s definition of “employ” as broadly as possible and by tightening the
Continue Reading DOL Independent Contractor Guidance Targets “On-Demand” Companies
Co-authored by Richard Alfred, Alex Passantino, Patrick Bannon, and Adam Smiley
Today, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued its first Administrator’s Interpretation (AI) on the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in more than a year. As the Administrator, Dr. David Weil, had forecast in a speech last month, today’s AI discusses the
Continue Reading DOL Issues Guidance On Independent Contractor Classification Interpreting FLSA Broadly to Cover Most Workers as Employees
Co-authored by Robert S. Whitman and Adam J. Smiley
This blog recently reported on the first wave of lawsuits challenging the classification of independent contractors in the “on-demand” economy. The second wave has now arrived, as numerous tech companies have been hit with class or collective action lawsuits alleging misclassification of their workers, most filed by the same plaintiffs’ attorney
Continue Reading “On-Demand” Litigation Heats Up This Summer
Authored by Kara Goodwin
Last week, a federal district court decertified a Rule 23 class of more than 1,000 insurance agents who claimed that Bankers Life and Casualty Co. misclassified them as independent contractors, and, as a result, they were entitled $16.9 million in overtime damages under the Washington Minimum Wage Act. In decertifying the class, the court held that
Continue Reading Agents Can’t Insure Class Treatment – Varied Experiences Require Decertification
Co-authored by Robert S. Whitman and Howard M. Wexler
With Wimbledon in full swing, and the U.S. Open just a few weeks away, the Second Circuit awarded game, set and match to the U.S. Tennis Association in a challenge to the independent contractor status of the tournament’s umpires. In Meyer v. USTA, which we previously wrote about here,
Continue Reading USTA Aces Misclassification Case Before Second Circuit
Co-authored by Rob Whitman and Adam Smiley
If you’re working late at the office tonight, chances are you’ll order food online. Trying to get home after a fun night out? A car is just an app away. If you’re having company over but haven’t had time to clean, maybe you’ll hire a house cleaner through the online service you just
Continue Reading Tech Companies Targeted For On-Demand Independent Contractors
Co-authored by Lynn Kappelman, Timothy Haley, and Karla E. Sanchez
Recently, we learned that the Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division has launched a sweeping FLSA compliance review focused on major retailers who employ janitorial workers. As part of that initiative, WHD has visited multiple retailer locations and has interviewed location management and janitorial employees. WHD has
Continue Reading The Department of Labor Investigates Retailers’ Relationships with Janitors
Co-authored by Robert S. Whitman and Robert T. Szyba
New Jersey employers now have an answer to a question that had previously been mired in uncertainty: What test is used to determine whether an individual is an employee or an independent contractor under state wage and hour laws?
In Hargrove v. Sleepy’s, LLC, the New Jersey Supreme Court, answering
Continue Reading Employee or Independent Contractor? In New Jersey, It’s as Easy as “ABC”