One of the drawbacks of entering the gig economy as a worker is that gig businesses are somewhat hamstrung by current law from providing a raft of benefits usually associated with full-time employment. That’s because...more
Credit Uber with being one of the first companies to enter the gig economy space and changing the way the world thinks about the entire industry. The company now seems poised to change the way you think of Uber itself....more
Bloomberg Law’s Jaclyn Diaz wrote a very interesting story earlier this week asking whether the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) would soon issue an opinion letter to aid gig economy companies with commonplace labor and...more
During Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit earlier this week, Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi dropped a bombshell: the company wants to soon provide benefits to its drivers in an effort to close the gap between what is received...more
The Supreme Court term that wrapped up in June was one of the most exciting sessions for workplace law in recent memory, with several blockbuster decisions impacting a wide range of labor and employment law issues. From...more
10/5/2018
/ Age Discrimination ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Gender Identity ,
Independent Contractors ,
Public Sector ,
Retaliation ,
Salary/Wage History ,
Same-Sex Marriage ,
SCOTUS ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Wage and Hour
On the heels of the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year in Epic Systems Corporation v. Lewis, which held that the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) does not bar class or collective action waivers in arbitration...more
10/3/2018
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Back Pay ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Independent Contractors ,
Liquidated Damages ,
Misclassification ,
Motion to Compel ,
NLRA ,
Savings Clause ,
Wage and Hour
We’ve been waiting for something like this since the gig economy was established: a set of rules and regulations, adapted for the modern era and with the gig economy in mind, addressing the issue of independent contractor...more
It was just a matter of time. After the Supreme Court cleared the way for businesses to use class waivers with their employees and contractors with the Epic Systems ruling this past May, many observers expected that the...more
9/26/2018
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dismissals ,
Drivers ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
NLRA ,
Ridesharing ,
Uber ,
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 for the past few years—and this past month...more
9/17/2018
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Background Checks ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Class Action ,
Collective Action Waivers ,
Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act (CCRAA) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Failed Legislation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Freedom of Religion ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Gig Economy ,
Governor Baker ,
Governor Brown ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act (ICRAA) ,
Licenses ,
Misclassification ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
OFCCP ,
Opinion Letter ,
Opioid ,
Over-Time ,
Pay Gap ,
Pending Legislation ,
Portable Benefits ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Ridesharing ,
Right to Work ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Union Dues ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Injury
When the Supreme Court decided this May that businesses were permitted to enter into class waiver agreements with employees and contractors, forcing them into individual arbitration proceedings over workplace disputes rather...more
While businesses, chambers of commerce, local leaders, and others have put the full-court press on the California legislature to take action to somehow lessen the impact of the new ABC Test for determining misclassification...more
We can safely say that one of the biggest supporters of the gig economy is Virginia Senator Mark Warner (D). Back in 2016, he advocated for the Labor Department to update its statistics to help us get better insight into the...more
We’ve been asking for increased regulation of the gig economy, and we got it – just not the kind of regulation businesses were hoping for. While gig businesses are craving a modern regulatory approach to misclassification...more
8/10/2018
/ Drivers ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Licenses ,
Mayor de Blasio ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Legislation ,
Ridesharing ,
Traffic Laws ,
Transportation Industry ,
Wage and Hour
Although the document itself is fairly dense and complex, specifically focusing on the home-care registry industry, the Labor Department’s latest field assistance bulletin could provide a helpful clue to gig economy companies...more
You remember the game-changing, earth-shattering, monumental decision from the California Supreme Court a few months ago that fundamentally changes the test to determine whether your workers are independent contractors or...more
7/20/2018
/ ABC Test ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Class Action ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Retroactive Application ,
Wage and Hour
Sure, there have been some high-profile legal setbacks for gig economy businesses in the area of misclassification lately; the Dynamex case was a punch in the gut for California businesses, and the Pimlico Plumbers case is a...more
6/27/2018
/ Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Employment Litigation ,
Former Employee ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Reversal ,
Right to Control ,
Unemployment ,
Unemployment Insurance
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
It’s a small step, but at least it’s progress. Federal regulators made it easier this week for gig workers to obtain health insurance on a more cost-effective basis, which should help to shore up the ranks of gig workers and...more
Headlines from mainstream news outlets are reporting that today’s Labor Department report on Contingent and Alternative Employment Arrangements shows that the gig economy is shrinking. “The gig economy is actually smaller...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
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
A delivery driver for gig economy company DoorDash has been ordered by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to take his misclassification case to a private arbitrator instead of court pursuant to a valid arbitration agreement he...more
4/30/2018
/ American Arbitration Association ,
Appeals ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Arbitrators ,
Class Certification ,
Collective Actions ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Employment Contract ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Wage and Hour