Nearly half of all COVID-19-related workplace lawsuits that have been initiated between employees and employers were filed in the past month, according to data collected by the Fisher Phillips COVID-19 Employment Litigation...more
7/6/2020
/ Class Action ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Paid Leave ,
Remote Working ,
Retaliation ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
In a budget deal finalized today and expected to be approved by state lawmakers in a matter of days, the California state legislature has reached an agreement that will see $17.5 million allocated toward enforcement of AB-5...more
San Francisco ratcheted up the pressure on California gig economy companies by not only filing a misclassification lawsuit against DoorDash, but promising that more such litigation was to come against other companies. Upon...more
6/18/2020
/ ABC Test ,
Corporate Counsel ,
DoorDash ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
San Francisco ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unfair Labor Practices
In its latest round of updates to a series of COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission just warned employers they cannot prevent older workers from returning to work even if they want...more
6/12/2020
/ ADEA ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Caregivers ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Remote Working ,
Workplace Harassment Guidance
I was able to virtually attend a session of Albany Law School’s 2020 Warren M. Anderson Legislative Seminar Series last week on “The Gig Economy,” bringing together some of the nation’s foremost thought leaders on the subject...more
6/8/2020
/ ABC Test ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
Misclassification ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Given that the gig economy is a relatively recent phenomenon, the industry has not yet experienced some of the trials and tribulations that more-established business models have survived. Now though, for the first time, gig...more
3/5/2020
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Best Practices ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gig Economy ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Public Health ,
Risk Management ,
Workplace Safety
Over a million Californians have said they want a chance to vote on the misclassification law that threatens to upend the gig economy as we know it – and that means that their wish will soon be granted. Thanks to a...more
3/4/2020
/ ABC Test ,
Ballot Measures ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Relations ,
Misclassification ,
State Labor Laws
Fisher Phillips has assembled a cross-disciplinary taskforce of attorneys across the country to address the many employment-related issues facing employers in the wake of the COVID-19 coronavirus – especially now that the...more
3/3/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Best Practices ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Foreign Workers ,
Global Workforce ,
Health and Safety ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Labor Relations ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Public Health ,
Risk Management ,
Sick Leave ,
Traveling Employee ,
Wage and Hour ,
WARN Act ,
Workplace Safety
Gig economy company Instacart lost the latest round of its misclassification battle in San Diego Monday, as a California state court judge granted a preliminary injunction forcing it to reclassify its independent contractor...more
A federal court judge today denied a request by several gig economy giants (and a few contractors) to block AB-5, the new misclassification law in California that codifies the ABC test and makes it much more difficult to...more
2/11/2020
/ ABC Test ,
Ballot Measures ,
Contracts Clause ,
Dynamex ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Relations ,
Misclassification ,
New Legislation ,
State Labor Laws
New Jersey businesses will now face an increased slate of potential penalties for misclassification violations thanks to a series of bills just signed into effect by Governor Phil Murphy, but gig economy companies can breathe...more
Employers paid out a record $68.2 million to those alleging sexual harassment violations through the EEOC in 2019, shattering the all-time record by over $10 million and reminding us all that the #MeToo movement continues to...more
1/29/2020
/ #MeToo ,
ADEA ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Strategic Enforcement Plan ,
Title VII ,
Wage and Hour
Now that we know that the Kansas City Chiefs will be playing the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV in a few weeks, it’s time to assess whether this annual American tradition will create any workplace issues for your...more
The federal court that had granted a temporary restraining order on New Year’s Eve blocking California’s misclassification law from taking effect against the trucking industry just extended that ruling by granting a...more
1/17/2020
/ ABC Test ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 (FAAAA) ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Motor Carriers ,
Preemption ,
State Labor Laws ,
TRO ,
Trucking Industry ,
Trucking Regulations
The U.S. Department of Labor just finalized its rule that attempts to limit the scope of joint employment liability for wage and hour matters. Although much remains to be seen, this rule may usher in a new era, and could lead...more
1/14/2020
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Final Rules ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Joint Employers ,
Labor Regulations ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Rules ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Schedules
The clock is steadily ticking towards midnight on December 31, and once the illuminated cluster of grapes drops from the Temecula Civic Center clock tower (this is actually a thing) and rings in the new year in California,...more
12/27/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Journalists ,
Misclassification ,
State Labor Laws ,
Writers
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission yesterday withdrew its 1997 policy statement that had disapproved of the practice of requiring workers to enter into arbitration agreements to resolve workplace discrimination...more
12/18/2019
/ ADEA ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Title VII
We’ve written about the “Future of Work” efforts recently undertaken by Congress – a series of hearings aimed at discussing various issues that we can expect to impact workplaces in the near future. And according to a recent...more
We’re now just a few weeks away from the nation’s most stringent independent contractor misclassification law taking effect in California. But if a group of truck drivers have their way, the law will stall out before it ever...more
11/19/2019
/ Commerce Clause ,
Commercial Truck Drivers ,
Drivers ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 (FAAAA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Gig Economy ,
Governor Newsom ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Injunctions ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Misclassification ,
Preemption ,
State Labor Laws ,
Supremacy Clause ,
Trucking Industry
Tastes may differ, but there can be no dispute that the music video for “November Rain,” the ultimate power ballad by the ultimate Hair Nation band of the 1980s, Guns N’ Roses, is the best video ever created. It’s like a...more
11/4/2019
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Paid Leave ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Severe Weather ,
Unpaid Leave ,
Vacation Leave ,
Wage and Hour ,
Weather Policy
Lawmakers have begun to hold a series of hearings to discuss the “future of work,” and it may be no surprise that the two political parties have differing ideas about how that should impact the gig economy. The House...more
10/30/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
OSHA ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Gig economy businesses across the country looked to what happened in California this year and cringed. Other states looked there and were intrigued. After California passed the most aggressive independent contract statute in...more
A Massachusetts federal court just ruled that gig workers cannot escape arbitration provisions by claiming they are exempt transportation workers. The September 30 decision in Austin v. DoorDash marks the second win for gig...more
10/18/2019
/ Arbitration Agreements ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Interstate Commerce ,
New Prime v Oliveira ,
SCOTUS ,
Transportation Industry
California Governor Gavin Newsom wasted little time by signing AB 5 into law yesterday, and his signing statement should cause quite a few eyebrows to be raised. It was no surprise that he signed the bill into effect; he said...more
9/19/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gig Economy ,
Governor Newsom ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
NLRA ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unions
Chalk up in the win column for businesses. On August 29th, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that companies found to have misclassified workers as contractors will not automatically face liability for an unfair...more