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. July was no different,...more
8/2/2017
/ Ashley Madison ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Class Action ,
Data Breach ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Electronic Records ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Form I-9 ,
Gender Equity ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Gig Economy ,
GrubHub ,
Joint Employers ,
Local Ordinance ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Misclassification ,
OSHA ,
Over-Time ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnancy Disability Leave Law ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
San Francisco ,
Settlement ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Uber ,
Updated Forms
Bloomberg BNA reporter Madison Alder has written an eye-opening article that suggests the possible repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) could force many gig economy workers to abandon their freelance lifestyle and secure...more
A federal court judge in North Carolina last week granted permission to a group of Uber drivers challenging the company’s classification structure to band together and proceed with a class action lawsuit against the...more
7/19/2017
/ Class Action ,
Conditional Certification ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Minimum Wage ,
Misclassification ,
Over-Time ,
Popular ,
Uber ,
Wage and Hour
Gig employers returning from the Fourth of July holiday were in for a rude awakening when they learned about the fireworks that just went down in a California federal court. Right before the holiday weekend, Judge Jacqueline...more
Late last week, NPR aired a story discussing the governmental efforts to bring portable benefits to gig workers...more
Back in October, we reported that there appeared to be the first crack in the wall when it came to classifying Uber drivers as employees instead of independent contractors. At that time, it was reported that the New York...more
6/20/2017
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Definition ,
Employees ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Sharing Economy ,
Uber ,
Unemployment Benefits
Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Labor dropped a bit of a bombshell when it announced the immediate withdrawal of two informal guidance letters issued back when President Obama governed the executive branch. The 2015...more
6/12/2017
/ Administrative Interpretation ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Joint Employers ,
Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA) ,
Misclassification ,
Wage and Hour
Gig economy companies in Texas were on the receiving end of two pieces of good news in the last several weeks. Most recently, the state legislature passed and the governor signed into law a bill that will all but assure...more
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While it always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, the last few months have seen an unprecedented number of changes. May 2017 was no different, with...more
6/5/2017
/ Affordable Care Act ,
American Health Care Act (AHCA) ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Day of Rest Laws ,
E-Verify ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Workweek ,
Fast-Food Industry ,
Federal Budget ,
Federal Contractors ,
Food Service Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Immigration Reform ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Legislation ,
NLRB ,
OFCCP ,
On-Call Employees ,
OSHA ,
Paid Leave ,
Parental Leave ,
Popular ,
Portable Benefits ,
Repeal ,
Retail Workers ,
Sick Leave ,
Travel Ban ,
Trump Administration ,
Work Schedules
According to a great article by Tyrone Richardson in Bloomberg BNA, it appears that the concept of portable benefits for gig workers is a step closer to reality. Richardson reports that Congress is “seeking ways to fill the...more
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While it always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, the last few months have seen an unprecedented number of changes. April 2017 was another month...more
5/5/2017
/ Computer Programmers ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Drivers ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Facebook ,
Gig Economy ,
H-1B ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigration Reform ,
Independent Contractors ,
LGBTQ ,
Misclassification ,
NLRB ,
Obscenity ,
On-Demand Services ,
OSHA ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Salary/Wage History ,
SCOTUS ,
Secretary of Labor ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Sovereign Immunity ,
State Labor Laws ,
Subpoenas ,
Title VII ,
Tribal Employees ,
Trump Administration ,
Unions ,
USCIS ,
Young Lawyers
I wrote an article yesterday about the new law that is about to be signed by Florida Governor Rick Scott that will ensure ride-sharing drivers are classified as independent contractors and not employees. You can check out the...more
4/27/2017
/ Drivers ,
Flexible Work Arrangements ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Exclusive Work Arrangements ,
Ridesharing ,
Sharing Economy ,
State and Local Government ,
Written Agreements
The state of Florida is about to enact first-of-its-kind legislation that will ensure most ride-sharing drivers are independent contractors and not employees, eliminating costly misclassification battles and providing a...more
Ruling In Favor Of Independent Contractor Status Provides Boost To Gig Economy -
A federal appeals court in New York handed a massive victory to a car service enterprise yesterday, ruling that a group of workers...more
We’ve written before about a proposal in New York that would permit gig companies to pay into a benefit fund for workers allowing them freedom to develop portable benefits; now, Washington state is considering a similar...more
Late last week, a federal court judge in California approved a settlement agreement whereby ride-sharing company Lyft agreed to pay $27 million to approximately 95,000 California drivers who alleged they were misclassified as...more
According to a recent survey by Randstad US, an HR and staffing services company a growing number of workers prefer to be known as “contributors” rather than employees or independent contractors. Reflecting a restlessness in...more
With one of his last official actions as Secretary of Labor, Thomas Perez published a “Memorandum to the American People” touting his accomplishments over the past four years and providing his suggestions for the incoming...more
Jeff Wald just published an interesting piece in Forbes looking at the top five predictions for the freelance economy in 2017. Given that he touts himself as having “near-precise prognostication,” how could we possibly ignore...more
We’ve already provided a few insights into the impact that the recent presidential election will have on the sharing economy. We offered pre-election predictions, presented a preview of what we expect the gig economy to look...more
Reverse psychology isn’t the only explanation for the title of this article (although, if you’ve made it this far, it seems to have worked). No, another explanation is that 2016 was a very rough year for employers when it...more
12/12/2016
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Arbitration ,
Constructive Discharge ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
EEO-1 ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Gig Economy ,
Joint Employers ,
NLRB ,
OSHA ,
Persuader Rules ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Severance Agreements ,
Standing ,
Unions ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Yesterday’s news that President-elect Trump (it still feels weird to write that, I gotta admit) selected Elaine Chao as his Secretary of Transportation was well-received in the sharing economy. Rideshare giants Uber and Lyft...more
It’s been a week since Election Day, and by now you should be in a position to wrap your head around the concept that Donald Trump will be our nation’s next president. Our firm produced a thorough examination of what...more
A few days ago, Uber won a significant battle when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court’s decision and upheld the company’s arbitration agreements. No doubt about it, this is a big win. You might remember...more
There’s a great scene in the Naked Gun movie where Lieutenant Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) is trying to clear a crowd forming around a crime scene, except that the crime scene happens to be a fireworks factory on fire. While...more