It’s impossible to ignore the reverberations that continue to shake the business landscape after the landmark April 30 Dynamex ruling introduced the notorious ABC test to the California gig economy industry. For those living...more
Now that sports betting has been legalized by the Supreme Court, I might want to consider laying some action on an upcoming game, because I am on fire with my recent predictions. In a blog post from last week, I correctly...more
5/16/2018
/ ABC Test ,
Appeals ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gig Economy ,
GrubHub ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Reimbursements ,
Retroactive Application ,
Wage and Hour
The ink on the Dynamex court decision is barely dry, but plaintiffs’ attorneys are not wasting any time in taking advantage of the new misclassification standard established for California businesses. In a pair of lawsuits...more
5/11/2018
/ ABC Test ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Wage and Hour
Late Friday afternoon, the attorneys for the worker who came out on the losing end of the Grubhub misclassification trial asked the appeals court to return the case to the lower court for a new hearing. Their reasoning? Last...more
5/8/2018
/ ABC Test ,
Appeals ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gig Economy ,
GrubHub ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Motion to Remand ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Retroactive Application ,
Wage and Hour
May the 4th has become known as Star Wars Day given the movie franchise’s most famous tag line. Today provides an opportunity for us to examine a recent employment law development of massive significance—a great disturbance...more
19th-century British poet Alfred Tennyson once said, “In the Spring, a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.” And while you might hold a certain amount of affection for your employees this time of year and want...more
My colleague Ashton Riley described it as the “contractor apocalypse.” As I said for an interview in the New York Times, “It’s a massive thing – definitely a game-changer that will force everyone to take a fresh look at the...more
In another victory for gig economy companies reliant upon the independent contractor business model, a Pennsylvania federal court ruled on April 11th that a collection of UberBLACK drivers were properly classified as...more
4/13/2018
/ Class Action ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Gig Economy ,
GrubHub ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Ridesharing ,
Right to Control ,
Uber ,
Wage and Hour
With the Senate’s confirmation of John Ring to the National Labor Relations Board on April 11 and the administration’s subsequent announcement on April 12 that he will be designated as the agency’s Chair, the Board is once...more
In a landmark decision that will accelerate the growing pay equity movement, especially for employers on the west coast, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals today became the latest federal court of appeals to rule that employers...more
At the forefront of mind of every gig economy company is the troublesome question of whether its workers are properly classified as independent contractors. Just search our blog for cases involving “misclassification” and...more
3/23/2018
/ 1099s ,
ABC Test ,
Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Economic Realities Test ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Right to Control ,
W-2
If you work for a certain large company, at any of its many operations across the country, you have the opportunity to enter to win $1 million dollars each year for life when you fill out a March Madness bracket. To hit the...more
A unanimous block of attorneys general from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, not to mention several U.S. territories, sent a letter to Congress on February 12th asking federal lawmakers to prohibit the use of...more
By now, you’ve probably heard the good news: a federal judge yesterday ruled in favor of Grubhub and pronounced that a delivery driver who was challenging the independent contractor classification model was not, in fact, an...more
Early last month, we told you that a critical trial ruling in a gig economy misclassification case could be put on hold because a separate court was mulling whether to loosen the test to make it easier for workers to succeed...more
If Congress cannot approve a budget by this Friday at midnight, the federal government will shut down. What will this mean for employers across the country? A look back at the most recent government shutdown will provide...more
1/18/2018
/ Budget Reconciliation ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
E-Verify ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Government Shutdown ,
Green Cards ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRB ,
OSHA ,
PERM ,
Small Business ,
Trump Administration ,
US State Departments ,
USCIS ,
Visas ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Visas ,
Workplace Safety
You are probably familiar with the concept of transgender status and, even if you haven’t already addressed such a situation at your workplace, you probably have a rough idea of how you would handle a situation involving an...more
1/2/2018
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Birth Certificates ,
Dress Codes ,
Driver's Licenses ,
EEO-1 ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender Identity ,
Gender Neutral ,
LGBTQ ,
Title VII ,
Transgender
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (H.R. 1), passed by Congress on December 20 and expected to be signed into law by President Trump in the coming days, contains several provisions that will directly impact employers and workplace...more
12/22/2017
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Business Ownership ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fringe Benefits ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Individual Mandate ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Paid Leave ,
Repeal ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Tax Credits ,
Tax Deductions ,
Tax Incentives ,
Tax Reform ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, there have been an unprecedented number of changes each month in 2017. November was no...more
12/7/2017
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Appeals ,
Attorney General ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Electronic Filing ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Failed Legislation ,
Fair Workweek ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Fines ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gig Economy ,
Harassment ,
Independent Contractors ,
IRS ,
Joint Employers ,
LGBTQ ,
Marijuana ,
Misclassification ,
Paid Leave ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Proposed Rules ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Salary/Wage History ,
SCOTUS ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Tax Penalties ,
Title VII ,
Uber ,
UK ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Schedules ,
Workplace Illness and Injury Reporting
While you can debate all you want about whether 1988’s Die Hard is a Christmas movie (it is – don’t fight us on this point), you can’t disagree with the fact that the movie depicts one of the all-time most memorable office...more
12/5/2017
/ Best Practices ,
Business Invitees ,
Dress Codes ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Holiday Gifts ,
Holiday Parties ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Voluntary Participation ,
Wine & Alcohol
The Oregon state agency charged with enforcing the state’s wage and hour laws has announced the largest civil penalty against an employer in its long history – nearly $277,000. According to the Oregon Bureau of Labor and...more
Is honesty really the best policy at the workplace? Some employers believe that a few little white lies might help them avoid uncomfortable situations and confrontations. It’s common for some to spare an employee’s feelings...more
Employers who have been keeping up with the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) decisions over the past eight years may be pleasantly shocked to learn that an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) just upheld an employer’s...more
Attorney General Jeff Sessions formally reversed the federal government’s position on whether transgender workers are covered by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, informing all U.S. Attorneys and heads of all federal...more
10/9/2017
/ Attorney General ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Gender Identity ,
Job Applicants ,
LGBTQ ,
Policy Memorandums ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender ,
Trump Administration
Josh Eidelson from Bloomberg reported that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint against gig economy mainstay Handy earlier this week, alleging that the on-demand workers who provide home cleaning...more