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”
Co-authored by Julie G. Yap and Rachel M. Hoffer
This week, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas ordered the Department of Labor to fork over $565,527.61 in attorneys’ fees and costs to a Texas employer. Why such a hefty fee award? The DOL’s position that the employer misclassified gate attendants as independent contractors was not
Continue Reading ContractorGate: Court Awards Employer Over $550,000 In Attorney’s Fees And Costs Based On DOL’s Unreasonable Litigation Position
Authored by Jim Harris
The California Supreme Court heard oral argument in two important cases involving employment-related class actions. From the tenor of and comments made at the argument, it appears likely that the ultimate results will be a mixed bag for employers.
The first case, Iskanian v. CLS Transportation of Los Angeles, LLC, which we reported on late
Continue Reading Let’s Play Two: California Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument in Two Important Class Action Cases
Authored by Jessica Schauer Lieberman
This week, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts took retailer Lowe’s advice to “never stop improving” — on the class certification standard. The court issued a decision that may demonstrate that employers are gaining ground in convincing district courts to more narrowly interpret the class certification requirements in light of recent Supreme
Continue Reading Lowe’s Raises the Bar on Class Certification
Authored by Alex Passantino
A cable installation company recently entered into a consent judgment with the U.S. Department of Labor, agreeing to pay over $1 million in back wages and liquidated damages to nearly 200 workers. [here] The consent judgment also enjoins the company — and its former vice president — from future violations of the FLSA.
The Wage
Continue Reading W.H.D.?: Here We Go Again . . . Independent Contractors Targeted Once More
Authored by Alex Passantino
Independent Contractors. Subcontractors. Franchises. Employment Agencies. According to the Wage & Hour Division, use of these relationships is an action that requires special scrutiny. When WHD states that it is targeting “fissured industries,” it means those industries in which it is more likely that workers are performing under one of these relationships — anything where there
Continue Reading W.H.D.?: Continuing the Crack Down in Fissured Industries
Co-Authored by: Jeffrey A. Berman and Anthony J. Musante
On July 2, 2012, the California Court of Appeal affirmed a trial court ruling denying class certification to a group of newspaper carriers claiming they were misclassified as independent contractors. In Sotelo v. Medianews Group, Inc., the Court of Appeal concluded that plaintiffs’ proposed class of newspaper carriers could not
Continue Reading Court of Appeal Delivers On Newspaper Carrier Misclassification Case
Co-authored by Barry Miller and Jeremy W. Stewart
Owners and operators of gentleman’s clubs recently received a new arrow in their quiver in the ongoing dispute over a question that has created a barrage of lawsuits across the industry – “Are exotic dancers employees?” A decision from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas on July 12
Authored by: Noah Finkel, Brett Bartlett, Andrew Paley and Richard Alfred
Members of Seyfarth Shaw’s Wage and Hour Litigation Practice Group have authored Wage & Hour Collective and Class Litigation, the first-of-its kind treatise on wage and hour litigation. Published by American Lawyer Media’s Law Journal Press, the 912-page volume is the most comprehensive guide published to
Continue Reading Seyfarth Shaw “Writes the Book” on Wage-Hour Litigation